Exemption 7—Marine Safety (Temporary operations) Exemption

Approvals are required in some circumstances to operate under Exemption 07.

You can apply to us for a temporary operation by completing and submitting an Exemption application for temporary operations (AMSA 777).

A temporary operations approval can only be issued for up to a maximum of 90 days.

Vessel owners and operators are expected to hold the appropriate National Law certification rather than seeking repeated temporary exemptions approvals. The National Regulators policy is that subsequent temporary operations approvals (where the application is for the same reason as the initial application) will not be granted unless extraordinary circumstances exist.

What this exemption will allow you to do

Exemption 07 may allow you to operate your domestic commercial vessel temporarily in some cases without: 

• a certificate of survey
• a certificate of operation
• a load line certificate.

Exemption 07 may also allow you to: 

• Operate outside the scope of your current certificates.
• Operate while you are rectifying minor non-conformances found during survey.

Temporary operations

Temporary operations not requiring any approval include: 

• When you are waiting on us to decide on an application for renewal of a certificate of operation (Division 6A).

Temporary operations requiring the approval of an accredited marine surveyor (or other person permitted under Marine Order 503 to conduct vessel survey) include: 

• New vessels undergoing the sea trial phase of commissioning (Division 3). 
• Vessels operating while minor non-conformances are being rectified after periodic survey—except renewal survey (Division 5).
• When you are waiting on us to decide on an application for renewal of a certificate of survey (Division 6).

Temporary operations requiring our approval include: 

• Building, disposing, relocating, or repairing or moving a vessel without a certificate of survey, load line certificate, or certificate of operation (Division 2).
• Operating a vessel without a certificate of survey, load line certificate or certificate of operation for another temporary use (Division 2).
• Other limited circumstances approved by us (Division 2).
• After initial survey or where a change occurs to the vessel or its operation (Division 4).
• When operating a vessel after the expiry of your certificate of survey or load line certificate, where the in-water components of a renewal survey have been completed but the out of water components are outstanding (Division 7).
• Operating temporarily outside the scope of your current certificate of survey or certificate of operation i.e. operating in a way that is not authorised by the certificate of survey, or in a way that is not allowed by the certificate of survey (Division 8).

Legislation and incorporated material

• Marine Order 501 (Administration—National Law)  [1]
• Marine Order 503 (Certificates of survey—national law) [2] 
• Marine Order 504 (Certificates of operation and operation requirements—national law) [3]
• Marine Order 507 (Load line certificates—national law) [4] 
• National Standard for Commercial Vessels [5] 

Related information

• Certificates of survey [6]
• Certificate of operation [7]
• Load line certificates [8]
• Exemption application for temporary operations (AMSA 777) [9]
• Find an accredited marine surveyor [10]
• Fees, levies, and payments [11] 
• Tenders and auxiliary vessels [12]

Superseded

• Exemption 07 – In force 3 July 2019 [13]
• Exemption 07 – in force 7 September 2018 [14]
• Exemption 07 - in force 1 July 2018 [15]
• Exemption 07 - in force 1 April 2018 [16]
• Exemption 07 - in force 4 February 2016 [17]
• Summary of Exemption 07 changes [18]