Bulletin No.: 03/2007

RDIMS No.: 2460211
Date (Y-M-D): 2007-07-31

 

Subject: Changes within the certificate structure and transitional period from the Marine Personnel Regulations

Purpose

This bulletin provides explanation with respect to changes within the certificate structure and the transitional period allowed with the new Marine Personnel Regulations ( MPR ) taking effect on July 01, 2007.

Scope

This bulletin will explain:

• The new structure of certificates;
• Sections 104 and 105 – Exchanges or renewals of certificates and Endorsements of the MPR ;
• Section 184 – Transitional period of the MPR ;
• Transport Canada policy on the transitional period

Background

Since 2001, Transport Canada ( TC ) has been engaged in a comprehensive review and amendment of Canada Shipping Act in order to bring it in line with its commitments under the International Maritime Organisation ( IMO ).

As a result all regulations which were part of Canada Shipping Act had to be amended in order to reflect the new requirements of Canada Shipping Act 2001 ( CSA 2001 ). MPR has therefore been created as a major component of CSA 2001 , providing the regulatory framework with regard to Marine Certification, Crewing, and Maritime Labour Standards.

New Certificates

The new certificate structure includes both nautical and engineer certificates complying with the STCW Convention and non- STCW certificates designed to meet the domestic industry needs.

The Master and Deck Officer certificates will be divided into categories:

• The STCW certificates;
• The non- STCW certificates which contains the Domestic and the Limited certificates;
• The Fishing Vessel certificates.

It is to be noted that in the international STCW structure, the 2nd Mate level has been abolished in the Master and Deck Officer category.

For each Master and Deck Officer certificates a new examination structure is implemented.

The Engineer certificates structure remains the same with the exception of:

• The Chief engineer, motor-driven fishing vessel, which is replaced with a 3rd Class Engineer Motor Ship.
• The Chief engineer and the Second engineer certificates of competency, which have becoming endorsements to the 3rd and 4th Class Engineer respectively.
• The Restricted Engineer has been renamed the Small Vessel Machinery Operator.

Marine Personnel Regulations, sections 104 & 105 – Exchanges or renewals of certificates and endorsements.

Under sections 104 and 105 of the MPR , the holder of a Master, Mate or an Engineer certificate that was issued before the coming into force of the MPR may exchange or renew his certificate and endorsement, at the latest on the date of expiry of the certificate, or the endorsement, in order to continue to have a certificate that is valid for use at sea.

The certificates issued before the coming into force of the MPR , which was valid for use at sea, will remain valid until the date of its expiry and is not required to be exchanged until such date.

Certificates will be exchanged or renewed as per Schedule 1 of Part 1 of the MPR when the applicant meets all the requirements for the exchange or the renewal.

Marine Personnel Regulations, section 184 – Transitional Period

A transitional period of five years, after the day of the coming into force of the MPR , is granted for the applicant who has started to acquire qualifying service and who has successfully passed at least one examination, required to obtain the certificate of competency under the Marine Certification Regulations.

After complying with the requirements for the delivery of a certificate under the Marine Certification Regulations, as they read immediately before the entry into force of the Marine Personnel Regulations, the applicant will obtain the equivalent ranking certificate identified in Schedule 1 of Part 1 of the MPR or, if an equivalent ranking certificate does not exist, a certificate of the rank immediately below.

TC policy

Under the Transport Canada policy; "Transitional period for enforcement of certification and training requirements", TC will permit, until July 1, 2008, that the recognized institutions continue to administer approved training programs and courses of which the content is in accordance with the syllabuses as they read immediately before the entry into force of the MPR .

A candidate registered in an approved training program or course administered prior to July 1, 2008, and who obtains a credit or passes with success an examination required for obtaining the certificate and who had started to acquire qualifying service for this certificate before the entry into force of the MPR (July 1, 2007), will be considered as having succeeded in at least one examination with the view to obtaining this certificate for the purposes of section 184 of the Marine Personnel Regulations. The candidate will then be able to obtain the equivalent ranking certificate or the certificate of the rank immediately below identified in Schedule 1 of the regulations by satisfying the requirements as they read immediately before the entry into force of the MPR , this in accordance with section 184.

Registrations in an approved training program or course other than for the school year 2007-2008 will not be accepted. In this case the applicant will have to comply with the MPR requirements for the certificate sought.

The following document is available for downloading or viewing:

Changes within the certificate structure and transitional period from the Marine Personnel Regulations (34 KB) 

To access the Portable Document Format ( PDF ) version you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet:

• Adobe Reader
• Foxit Reader
• Xpdf
• eXPert PDF