Circular No. 31/2016
Subject:
- Renewal of the Certificate of a Private Ship Security Company (PSSC)
- Circular by virtue of section 81 of the Protection of Cyprus Ships against Acts of Piracy and Other Unlawful Acts Law of 2012, Law 77(I)/2012 (“the Law”)
The master of a ship and the ship’s operator each has the obligation to implement the necessary measures, in accordance with the provisions of SOLAS chapter XI-2, the ISPS Code and Regulation (EC) No 725/2004, for ensuring and maintaining the security of the ship and for preventing unlawful acts. The ship’s operator may entrust to a private ship security company, through a written private agreement, the implementation of some of the security measures.
According to the Law a “private ship security company” means a legal person which has been approved pursuant to the provisions of this Law and to which a PSSC certificate has been issued pursuant to the provisions of the Law to resemble the authority of the private ship security company to implement security measures on a ship.
The Department of Merchant Shipping has set the below procedure for the renewal of a PSSC Certificate:
A PSSC must submit the following documents to the Competent Authority, at least 15 days prior to the expiration date of its latest valid PSSC Certificate:
- The latest version of the Application for the Renewal of the Certificate (Form “EN04F114”), duly completed and signed by the person responsible for the company.
- The latest version of the PSSC Information Sheet (Form “EN04F116”), outlining the information required by the Sixth Schedule of the Law, dully completed and updated.
For the examination of an application for the renewal of a PSSC Certificate the prescribed fees should be remitted (refer to the Protection of Cyprus Ships Against Acts of Piracy (Determination of Fees) Notification in force issued by the Director of the Department under section 86 of the Law) and the relevant forms may be obtained from the official webpage of the Department of Merchant Shipping (DMS) (www.shipping.gov.cy).
The Competent Authority, in addition to the examination of the documents referred to in paragraph 2 above and prior to renewing a Certificate, may decide, as an integral part of the renewal procedure, to carry out an inspection/audit at the office(s) from where the PSSC is conducting its activities/ operations, for the purpose of determining that the provisions of the Law are implemented, pursuant to section 77(1) of the Law.