Section 222

The Minister may exempt any ship or class of ships from the provisions of sections 218 to 236 of this Act or any regulations made thereunder when he is satisfied that the sheltered nature and conditions of voyages undertaken by such ships make it unreasonable or impracticable to apply the provisions of sections 218 to 236 of this Act or the regulations made thereunder.

The Minister may exempt any ship which embodies features of a novel kind from any of the provisions of sections 218 to 236 of this Act or any regulations made thereunder the application of which might seriously impede research into the development of such features and their incorporation in ships engaged on international voyages.

The Minister may, in relation to a ship which does not normally ply on international voyages but is, in exceptional circumstances, required to undertake a single international voyage exempt the ship from sections 218 to 236 of this Act or any regulations made thereunder while the ship is engaged on that voyage.

The Director may, in relation to a ship to which the Load Lines Convention does not apply and not being a Singapore ship, exempt the ship from sections 218 to 236 of this Act or any regulations made thereunder when he is satisfied that the ship belongs to a class of ships which is exempted from the provisions of any law relating to load lines in force in the country in which the ship is registered and it would be unreasonable or impracticable to apply sections 218 to 236 of this Act or any regulations made thereunder to the ship.

Any exemption granted by the Minister under this section may be granted subject to such conditions as the Minister thinks fit; and, where any such exemption is conferred subject to conditions, the exemption shall not have effect unless those conditions are complied with.

The owner, master or agent of a Singapore ship which has been granted an exemption by the Minister under this section shall, on application to any person appointed in that behalf by the Minister, receive a certificate in the prescribed form to be called a load line exemption certificate.[242