Ship owners, operators, Recognised Organisations (RO)5 and flag States all have the right to appeal against inspection outcomes and AMSA actively encourages these parties to appeal if they believe it is warranted. Appeals can be made through a number of different mechanisms and the master of a ship is advised of their right to appeal at the conclusion of each PSC inspection.
Masters are advised that the initial avenue for review is through a direct approach to the AMSA Manager Ship Inspection and Registration. This involves an examination of all information provided by the applicant and feedback from the attending AMSA inspector to determine the merits of the case put forward. If an appellant is unsuccessful with this initial AMSA review, further appeal processes are available either by the flag State to the detention review panel of the Tokyo or Indian Ocean Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), or to the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
During 2021, AMSA received 20 appeals against a detainable deficiency, with each undergoing a review of all information provided against the evidence available at the time of the PSC inspection. In two instances, it was found that the decision to detain was technically incorrect and both these deficiencies were expunged.
There was one appeal against a non-detainable deficiency raised during an inspection, this was accepted, and the deficiency was expunged.
AMSA received five appeals from ROs challenging the assignment of RO responsibility during the inspection process. AMSA accepted three of these challenges upon review and amended the inspection record accordingly to remove the assignment of RO Responsibility. The remaining two were rejected.
There were no appeals lodged against an AMSA inspection to the Detention Review Panel of the Tokyo MOU, during this reporting period.
There was one appeal lodged against AMSA inspections to the AAT.
A full list of ships AMSA detained in 2021, can be found on the AMSA website.
Footnotes
5 RO can appeal the assignment of RO Responsibility for a detainable deficiency but not the detention itself.