TTM03930 - Qualifying companies and ships: Flagging - substitute ships
FA00/SCH22/PARA22A (7) - (8)
These EU/EEA 'flagging' rules were repealed by FA22/S25 (6) and (7) with effect from 1 April 2022
Where the company started to operate a vessel that was not registered on a relevant register (EU/EEA plus UK and Gibraltar), then it might not have the option of re-registering the ship, for example where a ship was time chartered in and the owner was unwilling to re-flag it.
In these circumstances the company might make an election to register a different, or ‘substitute’, qualifying ship on a relevant register.
This substitute vessel must:
- have been of at least the same tonnage as the new ship: two smaller ships that, when combined, equal the tonnage of the new ship would not be substitute ships,
- have been registered other than on a relevant register, and
- have been first operated by that company at least three months before the date on which the vessel it was substituting was first operated.
Where the company was a member of a tonnage tax group, the substitute ship might be one operated by another member of that group.
Election
When a company first operated ship A, and decided to register a substitute vessel, ship B, it had to make an election to HMRC within 3 months of first operating ship A.
Where the company was a member of a tonnage tax group, the election had to be made jointly by all the qualifying companies in that group.
An election had to detail:
For the new vessel,
- the name
- the date first operated
- the gross tonnage
- the IMO number
- the current flag.
For the substitute vessel,
- the name
- the date first operated by the company or by a company in the same group
- the gross tonnage
- the IMO number
- the flag and date it was put on the register
- the previous flag.
The legislation was amended by SI2020/332 to maintain its effect following departure from the EU/EEA, referring to relevant registers, ,but was repealed by FA22 with effect from 1 April 2022.
References
FA00/SCH22/PARA22A (7) and (8) |