Exemption 6—Marine Safety (Periodic survey, equipment certification and compass adjustment)

What this exemption will allow you to do

Extension of time for surveys and equipment certification

Exemption 06 allows us to grant a domestic commercial vessel owner an extension of time for the purposes of completing any of the following:

• A periodic survey (other than the renewal survey) that must be completed at a particular time in the a domestic commercial vessels survey cycle.
• A periodic load line survey that must be completed at a particular time in the domestic commercial vessels survey cycle.
• A current certificate of currency in relation to equipment that the vessel must carry. 

Under this exemption, we may allow you to temporarily operate your domestic commercial vessel for a specified period of time (not more than 90 days) without the need to comply with the conditions and standards associated with the vessel’s certificate of survey or load line certificate. 

A written approval from us is required but you can continue to operate while you are waiting for your application to be decided. To apply for an approval, you must complete and submit an application to operate outside certificate of survey conditions (AMSA 776). 

For an approval:

• for extension of time for the completion of a periodic survey the application must be made in the 90 days before or after the last day of the period in which the vessel is or was required to be surveyed. 
• to operate without a current certificate of currency for equipment the application must be made in the 90 days before or after the day the certificate is or was to expire.

The application must be made before the certificate of survey expires.  If you require time to complete a renewal survey, you should seek approval under Exemption 07 instead.

Compass adjustments 

We may also exempt a vessel from the requirements relating to having a compass adjusted at specified time intervals, or having an adjustment of any compass on board that is showing a deviation on any heading of more than 5 degrees. You must apply for approval, but you can continue to operate while waiting for us to decide your application.

Legislation and incorporated material 

• Marine Order 503 (Certificates of survey – national law)
• Marine Order 507 (Load line certificates – national law) 
• National Standard for Commercial Vessels 
• Marine Safety (Temporary operations) exemption (Exemption 07)

Related information

• Certificates of survey
• Load line certificates
• Survey standards for domestic commercial vessels in-survey
• Application to operate beyond survey due date or equipment due date (AMSA 776)
• Marine Surveyors Manual parts 1 and 2
• Fees, levies, and payments 

Superseded

• Exemption 06 – In force 1 July 2018 (PDF 298.34 KB)
• Exemption 06 – in force 1 April 2018 (PDF 335.75 KB)
• Exemption 06 – in force 1 July 2017 (PDF 330.79 KB)
• Summary of Exemption 06 changes (PDF 171.15 KB)