Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

USCG issues new rule on cruise security screening requirements

0a6a0e18316c6640d473f2819cfaf2b4
The US Coast Guard issued a final rule to eliminate outdated regulations that imposed unnecessary screening requirements on cruise ships and cruise terminals.

The agency said it replaced those outdated regulations with simpler, consolidated regulations that provide efficient and clear requirements for the screening of baggage, personal items, passengers, crew and visitors.

But it took awhile to get there.

USCG proposed the changes in 2014, and numerous comments were received, both in writing and during a public meeting at Port Everglades, leading USCG to see the need to clarify a number of points.

For example, the agency clarified that security sceening conducted on board a vessel does not need to be duplicated at port of call facilities, and distinguished between cruise terminals, where passengers embark or disembark at the beginning and end of the voyage, and ports of call as intermediate stops during the voyage.

Addressing concern that the proposed rule seemed to impose full legal responsibility for security and screening on the cruise terminal owner/operator, USCG spelled out that's not the case. Under both the existing regulations and the proposed text, the cruise terminal operator is responsible for ensuring terminal screening operations are carried out in a proper manner. An acceptable way to do that continues to be through coordination with the cruise ship operator and delegation of screening operations to that entity.

USCG also determined that rather than imposing specific equipment or methodologies for screening, the training and qualification for screeners must be deemed sufficient by the facility security officer, a more general, and thus more flexible, standard.

'Writing certification requirements into regulation could severely restrict the options used at ports. Given the wide differences in the way cruise ship terminals are used, set up and operated, we believe that giving the FSO the discretion and responsibility for determining which qualifications are necessary to adequately perform the required duties is the best course of action,' USCG said.

The final rule is published in the Federal Register and beccomes effective April 18.