Policy on Service Standards for Marine Safety's Fees

Table of Contents

• Opening
• General
• Requests for Inspection Services
  • Requests for Inspection Services
  • Scheduling of Inspection Services
  • Cancellation of Inspection Services
• Examination Services
• Vessels Tonnage
• Plan Approvals
• Certificates of Approval
• Crew Accommodations
• Office of Boating Safety Compliance Labels
• Vessel Registry Services
• Appeal of a Reviewed Medical Certificate
• Appendix A
  • Office Hours

Opening

Transport Canada Marine is committed to continual improvement of the quality and responsiveness of our services to our clients. As such, we keep our clients needs and suggestions at the forefront of our minds as we establish our services and methods of delivery. While setting the standards, our responsibilities to continuously maintain and enhance safety and the protection of life, health, property and the marine environment remain paramount. Accordingly, we have developed these service standards that apply to the fees set out in the regulations.

These service standards:

• Provide our clients with our commitment of our levels of service to them; and,
• Express our need for timely receipt of requests and cancellations of services from our clients so that we can schedule the delivery of services in the most effective manner.

We will strive to achieve these targets and over the upcoming years improve on them and our quality of service.

General

Service hours – means the period Mondays to Fridays, excluding statutory holidays, when the office is open to accept visitors, examine candidates, accept requests for inspections and to answer general enquiries – normally 9am to 3:30 pm. Local circumstances (including satellite offices) may dictate adjustments including closing for lunch (see Appendix A for listing of office hours).

Transport Canada Marine, includes in this service standard, when travel is required, a suitable buffer period to account for situations such as normal traffic conditions. In some circumstances, delays may be unavoidable due to weather or traffic.

Transport Canada Marine will provide the requested inspection service commencing within 30 minutes of the time scheduled.

Transport Canada Marine will provide services in the office within 10 minutes of the scheduled appointment.

Service delivery may be delayed because of circumstances beyond our control and apply to normal operating conditions. If this happens, Transport Canada Marine will notify our clients of the delay as soon as possible following the initial request for service. When a client is delayed in a planned submission or response time, it is anticipated that they will communicate that delay to us so that appropriate adjustments can be made in the continuing management of the requested service.

Inspection Services

Working day – the period 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday during which an inspection may be provided and as defined in the Board of Steamship Scale of Fees regulations, there is no additional fee charged for an inspection. This time includes the necessary time to travel to or from the inspection location, for example a vessel, unless an out of hours fee for inspection is agreed in advance.

Manager - a person in charge of the TCC Marine office that is responsible for accepting and servicing inspection requests. Where there is not a manager in the respective office, the officer responsible for accepting and servicing inspection requests.

If the current year's fees have not been paid, Transport Canada Marine may, in accordance with Section 16.(4)(d) of the Canada Shipping Act 2001, refuse to issue a Canadian maritime document.

Requests for Inspection Services

All requests for services including those for out of hours inspection and standby, other than extensions to inspections identified below, must be made in writing¹ to the Manager, in advance of the service being provided.

Requests for inspection services received outside of service hours on a given day will be considered received at the commencement of service hours on the next working day.

Requests for inspection will be dealt with on a first come first served basis and are subject to the availability of an inspector.

Pressing requests for inspection services are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and depend on the availability of an inspector. Scheduled inspections will take precedence over urgent requests where there are insufficient inspectors available to satisfy all requests.

Subject to the availability of an inspector, a request made for “out of hours” inspections and availability for “standby” or “on-call” inspections is entertained in accordance with the fee scale provided a minimum of 2 working days notice is given.

When the inspection can be completed in not more than 3 consecutive hours outside of the working day (including travel time) contiguous with a commenced inspection, the inspector may, with the authorization of the manager, and provided they are given a written request by the requestor, extend their inspection.

Where inspections are made on a prolonged basis (i.e. during the construction or repair of a vessel), a schedule of visits is to be agreed in advance, the notification arrangements are to be agreed at the time when the Manager accepts the schedule.

It is incumbent on the requestor to ensure that the item to be inspected is ready in all respects for the inspection to be performed. For example, at an annual vessel inspection where drills have to be witnessed, the vessel must be complete in all respects and ready to sail and have a full complement of crew ready for conducting the drills.

Scheduling of Inspection Services

All inspections are to be scheduled in advance by submitting a written request to the Manager. Once the Manager agrees to the date and time of the service an inspector will be assigned. The written requests must be received in advance of the service as follows:

• Travel distance less than 100 km – not less than 2 working days prior to the requested attendance time of the inspection service.
• Travel distance greater than 100 and less than 500km – not less than 4 working days prior the requested attendance time of the inspection service.
• Where travel is greater than 500 km or outside of Canada, not less than 8 working days in advance of requested attendance time. Where visas, other travel documents or special travel arrangements are required, additional notice must be given to allow for processing or scheduling that is outside of Transport Canada’s control.

Since the period to complete an inspection is unknown, no assurance will be given for completion within a certain period other than as expressed elsewhere, such as plan approvals.

All scheduled inspections are subject to the availability of an inspector, and may due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a pollution incident, a shipping accident/fatality, Canada Labour Code related interventions, be cancelled at the last moment.

Where work is unable to be completed in one visit, for whatever reason, a return visit will be scheduled taking into consideration existing scheduled inspections, which have priority over return visits.

Cancellation of Inspection Services

All requests for inspection services will, unless cancelled before the cancellation period, be subject to the fee set out in the applicable regulations.

Cancellation period: This notice must be provided to Transport Canada Marine during service hours and is based on the distance to be travelled in Canada:

• Less than 200 km – not less than 2 hours prior to the requested attendance time of the inspection service.
• Greater than 200 km and less than 500 km – not less than 1 working day prior to the requested attendance time of the inspection service.
• Greater than 500 km – not less than 2 working days prior to the requested attendance time of the inspection service.

In certain circumstance, such as a vessel at anchorage, additional time is required due to the travel time required – each case will be advised individually when the inspection request has been received and agreed to by the Manager.

Cancellation of Standby Inspectors – For all cancellation requests involving requests for on call services (Board of Steamship Inspection Scale of Fees §29), notice of cancellation must be given to the Manager within service hours.

Examination Services

On being provided a complete and accurate application form, together with all relevant documentation (including completion of sea time assessment) and full payment of fees at or before the time of the scheduled appointment, Transport Canada Marine will:

1. Schedule an appointment for the candidate, in accordance with the regulatory requirements and examination timetable.
2. Advise on the results of a written examination within 14 working days following the attempt of a written exam.
3. Provide the services of an examiner to conduct an oral, practical or simulator- based examination within 10 minutes of a scheduled appointment.
4. Advise the candidate of the result of the oral, practical or simulator based examination immediately upon completion of the attempted exam.

On being provided a complete and accurate application form, together with all relevant documentation and full payment of fees, Transport Canada Marine will issue and mail, a Seafarer Identity Document (SID) to the applicant’s mailing address, within 20 working days.

Vessels Tonnage

On being provided a written request, Transport Canada Marine will provide on site, at a mutually agreed date, time and place, the services of a Tonnage Measurer within 30 working days of receipt of the request.

Note: Transport Canada Marine encourages the use of external/private appointed Tonnage Measurers.

Plan Approvals

On being provided a submission of a complete and accurate plan and all relevant documentation, Transport Canada Marine will, on a first come first serve basis review and complete the approval of an individual plan within 45 working days upon receipt of the submission.

Multiple (bulk) plan submissions are outside the scope of the standard due to the sheer volume of work involved and therefore timelines for completion will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Certificates of Approval

On being provided a complete and accurate submission of all relevant documentation and full payment of fees, Transport Canada Marine will issue a certificate of approval within 15 working days and a renewal of a certificate of approval within 10 working days.

Crew Accommodations

Upon receipt of a complaint in accordance with subsection 12(2) of the Crew Accommodation Regulations, Transport Canada Marine will provide the services of an Inspector no later than 24 hours prior to the vessel’s intended departure, if the vessel is in port more than 24 hours.

If the vessel is in port less than 24 hours, Transport Canada Marine will provide the services of an Inspector without undue delay.

Office of Boating Safety Compliance Labels

On being provided a complete and accurate application form, together with all relevant documentation in accordance with the Small Vessel Regulations, Part III, Sections 17-21, incorporating the Construction Standards for Small Vessels TP1332, and full payment of fees, Transport Canada Marine will:

1. Issue a Conformity Label or Capacity Label for new vessel applications to a manufacturer or importer within 30 working days provided the application(s) also contain a Statutory Declaration that complies with the requirements of Subsection 22(2) of the Small Vessel Regulations and following the Acceptance of Ratings by the manufacturer/ importer.
2. Issue a Conformity Label or Capacity Label within 15 working days for repeat orders or within 30 working days for repeat orders that require evaluation.

On being provided a complete and accurate application form from owners and/or brokers of second-hand pleasure craft together with all relevant documentation, Transport Canada Marine will issue a Single Vessel Label for the pleasure craft within 120 working days.

Vessels Registry Services

On being provided a complete and accurate application form, together with all relevant documentation and full payment of fees, Transport Canada Marine on a first come first serve basis will provide the following:

Service	Time Period
1st Registry and Re-registry	Process an application within 30 working days.
Provisional Certificate	Process an application within 2 working days.
Amendment to the Register or a Certificate of Registry	Amend the register or a certificate of registry and issue a new certificate of registry within 15 working days.
Issuance of a Replacement or a Certificate of Deletion	Issue a new certificate of registry within 5 working days.
Registry, Suspension and Reinstatement of a Bare-Boat Charter	Process an application for a bare-boat charter and issue a certificate of registry within 5 working days.
Mortgages	Record or register a mortgage, its discharge, order or priority or transfer or transmission within 5 working days.
Temporary Recording of a Vessel	Temporarily record a vessel that is about to be built or is under construction in Canada within 10 working days.
Transcripts	Issue a transcript within 2 working days.
Witnessing of a declaration	Witness a declaration.
Registry Services - Out of Hours	On being given a minimum of 2 working days notice received during service hours and subject to availability, Transport Canada Marine will provide the services of a Registrar during out of hours.
Register a vessel or fleet of vessels in the small commercial vessel registry	Process an application within 30 working days.

Appeal of a Reviewed Medical Certificate

On being provided a complete and accurate application form and full payment of fees, the Minister will appoint an Appeal Board composed of at least the Minister’s Representative, the Employer’s Representative and the Seafarer’s Representative within 45 days after receiving the notification from the Administrative Coordinator of the Appeal Board.

Appendix A

Transport Canada Centres with Marine Safety Services

Links to Office Hours

¹ Writing includes letters, facsimiles and electronic messages.