THE Australian Maritime Safety Authority has reminded industry that changes have been made to shipping registration laws, effective 1 April.

According to AMSA, there are no changes to the way that ships are registered on the Australian registers unless you do not know the vessel’s full ownership history.

But if you buy or acquire a vessel and do not know its full ownership history you must lodge a notice of intention to register a ship to be published on the AMSA website.

This is a change to the old requirement for a Gazette notice to be submitted to the Federal Register of Legislation.

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If you have a claim to a ship for which a notice of intention to register has been received you can submit objections to an intention to register to us.

Meanwhile the way you close a registration—for ships not required to be registered— also has changed.  It is now possible for the owner to apply to close a registration if the Australian registration is no longer required.

“Previously this application could only be made by the registered owner,” AMSA stated.

More information can be found by visiting the AMSA website.