New laws essential to make Sri Lanka effective maritime hub:

Merchant Shipping Division faces tough challenge

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

Making Sri Lanka a maritime hub in the South Asian region is one of the main development goals introduced under the five hub concept of the 'Mahinda Chinthana: vision for the future'. In other words it is to transform the country to a strategic global economic centre in the merchant shipping trade. The Director General's Office of Merchant Shipping is the prime body to achieve this goal and to control all shipping- related affairs in the country. But a crucial delay in converting fast-updating international maritime conventions adhering to the local legal system, has posed a grave challenge in enforcing laws against hundreds and thousands of vessels entering and exiting our territorial waters and ports everyday.

The Directorate General of Merchant Shipping (DGMS) is the shipping administration arm of Sri Lanka which has the overall responsibility to oversee maritime concerns. Based under the Minister of Highways, Ports and Shipping which comes under the purview of President Mahinda Rajapasksa , the activities of this directorate are basically governed by the Merchant Shipping Act No.52 of 1971.

It is the focal point of the International Maritime Organisation when it comes to local maritime affairs. The directorate is legally bound by convention to accept and activate the IMO conventions being introduced every now and then concerning the safety of maritime shipping in the world. Once a country becomes a member of the IMO it is legally bound to adopt its conventions and monitor whether the laws drafted to enforce the instruments of the conventions being properly adhered to.

To see whether this is according to the criteria and whether the member countries follow them, the IMO conducts routine audits from time to time in its 173 member countries. During these audits the IMO check whether that particular country adhere to the international conventions pertaining to maritime safety and safeguarding environment. And if a country found to be not up to the standards introduced by the organisation, awareness will be carried out and if the problem was not fixed yet, a warning will be issued. Receiving warnings over and over again would not look healthy on a country's maritime affairs and it will soon be disreputed in the trade.

Likewise Sri Lanka is scheduled to receive its IMO auditing in 2016 and there is so much to be fulfilled before that. Since its beginning of the early last century IMO has ratified 21 conventions in the field of maritime shipping. Out of this, six main conventions have been recognised as the chief instruments to maintain the IMO standards when it comes to merchant shipping industry.

The main conventions are STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping of Seafarers), SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea), MARPOL (Prevention of Sea Pollution from Ships), COLREGS (Preventing Collisions at Sea), Load Lines (Certificates on Ship's surveys, issuance, duration and validity) and TONNAGE (Universal tonnage measurement system for ships).

Once these conventions are introduced worldwide the countries draft laws to activate them according to their respective legal frames. For a single convention there may be differently interpreted laws in different countries. It is learnt that out of the 21 conventions including the six main conventions ratified by the IMO through out the history, Sri Lanka has drafted laws only for one main convention and ten other conventions. Sri Lanka has presently drafted laws only for the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping of Seafarers) and has no legal instruments to validate the remaining five most important conventions in the maritime industry.

Drafting laws to these conventions in Sri Lanka is a different ball game altogether. Once the conventions are issued by the IMO they have to be studied by the DGMS in how to adopt them in the local environment. Then they have to be categorised according to the local organisation that deals with the particular subject. For an example if the convention is related to marine environment it will be handled by the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) or if it is about marine security the laws will be enforced by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN).

Likewise there are 27 such local departments and institutes that are being linked to the DGMS and being monitored by the latter. DGMS being the sole authoritative body to launch the IMO conventions in Sri Lanka, its role is to make sure the relevant institute or department will conduct the respective duties. When it's come to marine environment MEPA is empowered under the Marine Pollution Prevention Act No. 35 of 2008 to carry out its tasks. If an international convention about marine pollution being introduced the legal provisions for that has to be drafted according to the Marine Pollution Prevention Act.

The contents in the convention has to be converted into laws under these Parliament Acts and the authority to legislate these laws lies within the Department of Legal Draftsman and the Attorney General's Department. The Legal Draftsman go through the international conventions and enact laws which will then be translated into the three main languages of Sinhala, Tamil and English. All this is normal part of the duty for these legal divisions of the government except for the tricky bit starts when translating the conventions.

Most of the IMO world conventions come in the form of huge books with hundreds of chapters containing so many clauses and guidelines. Infested with specific terms unique to the technical maritime jargon is a specialised area to study with great experience. Let alone enacting laws to them but to translate this to Sinhala and Tamil as well as to find and create new words to the maritime codes has become a major challenge to both the DGMS and Legal Draftsman Department.

Commenting on this Director General of Merchant Shipping Ajith Wickrama Seneviratne said there are no sufficient resources to translate and enact laws to all the prominent conventions at present. The DGMS has been having a close coordination with the AG's Department as well as the Legal Draftsman Department to get these remaining five conventions legislated before the impending crucial IMO audit in 2016. Although there is more than a year to this target, achieving these goals was never a simple task.

A classic example to describe this situation is the marine official Harbourmaster. A Harbourmaster is the official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port in order to ensure the safety of navigation and the security. Although the title Harbourmaster exists for many decades the authorities have failed to draft a Sinhala term for this title.

According to DG Seneviratne enacting the laws for these conventions are highly important when controlling the maritime industry in the country. Although the conventions are in place the DGMS or its network of law enforcement authorities have failed to act in instances where the marine guidelines are not being followed by those who engaged in the trade, because there are no laws drafted to act on. This will be a serious issue in future when moving ahead in the path of transforming Sri Lanka to a maritime hub.

The DGMS is currently engaged in six main operations of the merchant shipping industry. Its Licensing Unit has the sole authority to issue license for all types of vessels being launched by the local agencies. Under the Safety Registration process the office will monitor the safety and security of all vessels registered with them. Seafarer's Registration Unit will register all kinds of seafarers from an Engine Trainee to a Master Engineer issuing them Continuous Discharge Certificates (like a passport for the sailors). The Examination Unit will conduct state of the art training programs for the sailors and issue certificates.

The DGMS recently set up a Maritime Affairs Integration Committee to link all 27 public sector bodies that involved in the maritime operations and enforcing law. Representatives from Sri Lanka Ports Authority, MEPA, National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), Colombo Radio, Department of Meteorological, Ceylon Shipping Corporation, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC), Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat, Sri Lanka Coast Guard, Sri Lanka Navy, AG's Department, Legal Draftsman Department, Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Ministry of Disaster Management, Ministry of External Affairs and Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC) attend this committee to work for a national cause.

A special mock audit will be held in Colombo from August 18 to 22nd by international trainers who will educate DGMS officials to face the real IMO audit in 2016. Setting up of the relevant legal provisions in the near future is significant to run the operations of this top office being one of the leading government revenue generators, of Rs.55 million a month.