Owners, charterers and their insurers should be aware of an impending change to UAE law which may affect current contractual arrangements and shipping operations in relation to the UAE.
On 1 January 2019, Circular 12 of 2018 issued by the UAE Federal Transportation Authority comes into force.
This proscribes that a vessel flying the flag from 25 countries (listed below) must be classed with an IACS member, or with Tasneef (the UAE classification society), in order to call at ports or anchor in the UAE waters up to the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).
Thus, this will affect any vessel trading to or from the UAE and include vessels bunkering off the East Coast of the UAE. It should be noted that this restriction does not apply to vessels transiting the EEZ.
- Albania
- Belize
- Cambodia
- Comoros
- Congo
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea
- Equatorial Guinea
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Honduras
- Maldives
- Mauritius
- Palau
- Republic of Moldova
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sao Tome and Princi
- Sierra Leone
- State of Bolivia
- Togo
- Tonga
- United Republic of Tanzania
- Vanuatu
Stephenson Harwood Middle East LLP is a leading maritime law and international trade practice in the Middle East and was recently recognised as such by Lloyds List with the award of the i-Law Maritime Law Award 2018 for South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Please contact Edward Newitt, Saif Almobideen or your usual point of contact at the firm for further information.