The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia (MES) announces the beginning of work on development of amendments into Article 4.1 of the Inland Waterways Transport Code of the Russian Federation and Article 6 of the Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation, according to which MES is to be designated as the unified state authority empowered to conduct supervision over small-size vessels regardless of their functional purpose. According to the statement published on the federal portal for draft regulatory documents, the public discussion of the initiative is to last till 18 February 2020.
The explanatory not says there is no supervision over small-size commercial vessels in 21 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In 64 entities, there is no supervision over small-size commercial vessels on water bodies not included in the list of inland water ways.
“Absence of a state authority designated to supervise small-size vessels being used for commercial purposes results in the growing number of incidents involving small-size vessels and avoidance of administrative liability for illegal actions involving small-size vessels used for commercial purposes”, says the Ministry.