Amendments to the Regulations on supervision and certificates for Norwegian ships and mobile offshore units

The Norwegian Maritime Authority has laid down amendments to the Regulations of 22 December 2014 No. 1893 on supervision and certificates for Norwegian ships and mobile offshore units¹ section 13.

The consultation

The proposal was circulated for review from 5 July to 6 October 2022. The NMA received six consultative comments. KCA Deutag had no comments. They regarded the amendments as a specification of current practice and believe that there will be no increased/changed costs. Cefor support the proposed amendments and have no additional comments to the proposal. The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) agrees that it will be appropriate to lay down an annual survey requirement in the Regulations. The PSA's experience is that this is currently the way it is done for mobile offshore units at the NMA. The Norwegian Union of Marine Engineers, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and the Federation of Norwegian Coastal Shipping (NHO Sjøfart) had no comments.

Entry into force

The amendments will enter into force immediately.

Details of the proposal

Until the end of 2014, a requirement for an annual survey of Norwegian mobile offshore units was stipulated in the Regulations of 4 September 1987 No. 855 on notification of newbuildingm survey, and certification etc. of mobile offshore units section 5. The annual survey requirement was not continued in the Certificate Regulations. International requirements for intermediate surveys of mobile offshore units have been included in other Regulations.

In practice, annual surveys are always carried out on Norwegian mobile offshore units. Because of this, the NMA has decided that it is necessary to create legal basis for practice exercised for years by adding a new sentence to the second paragraph of the Certificate Regulations section 13.

The scope of the NMA's annual surveys is, among other things, based on previous experience with for instance a relevant mobile offshore unit.

Administrative and financial implications

Based on the current situation demonstrating that annual surveys are carried out on Norwegian mobile offshore units, the Norwegian Maritime Authority presumes that the proposal does not lead to increased investment or operational costs for the industry beyond the fact that the company will have to allocate time for the annual survey. The financial implications for the authorities will be insignificant, since annual surveys on Norwegian mobile offshore units are already being carried out.

Footnote

¹Referred to as the Certificate Regulations in this Circular.