Maritime Office
A Maritime Administration is a traffic authority that investigates accidents in shipping.
The marine casualty investigation
The investigation of marine casualties in Germany is a sovereign activity and is the responsibility of the federal government ( Section 1, Paragraph 4a of the Maritime Tasks Act ). The federal government has assigned this task to the federal waterways and shipping administration (WSV). The legal basis is still the Maritime Safety Investigation Act .
In June 2002 the marine casualty investigation in Germany was completely restructured by splitting it into an object-related and a subject-related procedure.
The property-related marine casualty investigation is carried out by the Federal Bureau for Marine Casualty Investigation (BSU). Here, the causes that led to the marine casualty should be determined without any consequences for those involved. The result of the investigation by the BSU is intended to improve safety at sea and will be published in written and digital form at the discretion of the head of the federal agency.
The subject-related marine casualty investigation is carried out by the maritime authorities. Here, a marine casualty is examined with regard to the consequences for those involved. This result will also be published at the discretion of the chairperson. The result of the official maritime investigation can be objected to at the objection office of the General Directorate for Waterways and Shipping (GDWS). It is still possible to file a lawsuit with the administrative court. In court, the maritime official result (the maritime official verdict) also has the value of an expert opinion.
The two authorities BSU and Maritime Administration do not work together and do not exchange data.
Maritime offices
The maritime offices are investigative commissions of the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) and set up as special offices at the Waterways and Shipping Directorate (GDWS) in the North and Northwest branches. The Maritime Offices are not legally independent committees within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act.
There are five maritime offices:
- Northwest area
- Emden
- Bremerhaven
However, only the Maritime Office in Kiel is staffed with a chairman who is qualified to be a judge and a permanent assessor with the highest nautical qualification. The area of responsibility of the maritime offices in German territorial waters is based on the limits of the local waterway and shipping authorities. Outside the German territorial waters, the Maritime Office is responsible in whose area the patent-issuing authority is based.
There were also historical maritime offices in Brake (Unterweser) , Danzig , Flensburg , Königsberg (Prussia) , Lübeck , Stettin , Stralsund and Tönning . The shipwreck of Germany was the reason for the establishment of the first German Maritime Administration. The Reichsoberseeamt was in Berlin .
Marine casualty investigation
The marine casualty investigation by a maritime authority was not only divided into two parts by the restructuring, but also deprived the maritime authorities of the decision-making power to independently decide on the existence of a marine casualty worth investigating. For this purpose, a preliminary test center was set up in the WSD Northwest.
The pre-inspection office is manned by an administrative specialist without nautical qualifications, who can obtain nautical statements from the Shipping Department of the WSD Northwest. The preliminary inspection body decides on the existence of a marine casualty worth investigating on the basis of the initial investigation documents. The basic prerequisites for this are that the person involved has a nautical-technical qualification and that the result of the maritime investigation may result in a driving ban because there are sufficient indications that the holder of the authorization is not the one required for an activity as a skipper or other person responsible in shipping physical or mental aptitude or the sense of responsibility required for this activity. The nautical / technical authorizations include all qualifications according to STCW 95 .
The maritime offices have not been investigating sports accidents since 2011; Exception only if the pleasure craft is run commercially.
If there is a marine casualty that is worth investigating, the preliminary inspection body submits an application to the maritime authorities to investigate. On the basis of the documents submitted by the preliminary inspection body, other documents from other investigative authorities and its own investigations, the competent maritime authority decides whether the maritime proceedings will be discontinued or continued. The self-investigations include a. questioning those involved and witnesses, inspection of the accident site and the ships involved, evaluation of technical documents and records (e.g. radar and radio recordings). If the decision is made to hold a Maritime Administration hearing, the chairperson sets the date, the witnesses to be summoned and any experts. The person involved always receives a formal summons, has the right to inspect files and a legal advisor (which he must pay himself, however). With the loading, the party involved is given the opportunity to determine the further course of the official maritime procedure. He can now voluntarily surrender his qualification for 30 months, after receipt by the Maritime Administration the procedure will then be discontinued (there may still be conditions to be fulfilled). Or he contradicts an oral hearing, then the Maritime Administration makes its verdict based on the files . If the oral hearing is not contradicted, the oral hearing will take place in front of the Maritime Administration on the announced date.
Maritime Administration hearing
A maritime administration negotiation is a negotiation by the maritime administration . The Maritime Office investigated and talking right in any legal violations, which in German territorial waters and on the high seas happen with the participation of German qualifications - for example inflicted accidents , death on the high seas, shipwreck , etc.
The oral hearing of the Maritime Administration is public, unless a person concerned objects to the chairman. The Maritime Administration can exclude the public from the hearing or part of it (Section 29 (5) SUG).
The panel is put together before the oral hearing ; it consists of the chairman, the permanent assessor and two honorary assessors. These two honorary assessors are selected from a list of proposals and invited by the chairman to the maritime administration negotiation. With the summons to the maritime office negotiation, the honorary assessors receive all the documents they need to familiarize themselves with the case. In the oral hearing as well as in the deliberations, all members of the panel are absolutely free of instructions.
On the day of the Maritime Administration hearing, the Arbitration Body meets to discuss the case together before the hearing.
In addition to the panel, the invited participants, witnesses and experts, the administrative specialist of the Maritime Office also takes part in the oral hearing that takes place as the recorder. All those involved, witnesses and experts have the right to refuse to testify .
After all participants and witnesses as well as any experts have been heard and the closing remarks have been spoken, the chairman closes the hearing.
After the oral hearing, the Arbitration Body withdraws to hold a closed discussion. Only the members of the panel are present during this meeting and no minutes are taken.
After the entire marine casualty has been discussed with the new findings from the hearing, the result is voted on. As a result of the restructuring of the marine casualty investigation, the composition of the arbitration body was also changed. Instead of the previous three honorary assessors, there are now only two. In the event of a tie, the chairman's vote counts twice. The result (Maritime Administration's verdict) can include a suspension or a 30-month or, in exceptional cases, lifelong driving ban (with or without conditions).
The hearing before the Maritime Administration is not a judicial procedure, but an official expert procedure. The ruling of the maritime office is made by authorities and courts as an expert opinion on the basis of further decisions.
The Maritime Administration's rulings are administrative acts to regulate an individual case. The maritime offices impose driving bans or withdraw the authorization in the seafaring (as a special case) if they have come to the conclusion that such a measure is necessary for the safety of the sea. In these cases, the misconduct on which the driving ban is based are explicitly stated. The findings by the Maritime Administration are intended to show those affected how to behave properly in the future. The maritime administration claims are subject to the data protection of the person concerned, even if they are terminated after the investigation. Other seafarers may also be able to gain valuable information from the findings of the Maritime Administration. A publication of the Maritime Administration's rulings in anonymized form is therefore permissible under the law. Despite a corresponding statement on the GDWS homepage, no maritime office rulings are published there.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Law to improve the safety of shipping through the investigation of marine casualties and other incidents, [1]
- ↑ Ordinance for the implementation of the Maritime Safety Investigation Act ( BGBl. 2002 I p. 1815 )
- ↑ Seeamt (zeno.org)
- ↑ Compare the information in the catalog of the German National Library
- ↑ Act on the International Convention on Standard of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) of 1978 Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated July 3 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.gdws.wsv.bund.de/DE/schifffahrt/01_seeschifffahrt/seeamt/seeamt-node.html
