SHIP SANITATION CONTROL

EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE

Ship Sanitation Certification

system
IN ACCORDANCE: the Article 39 of the International Health
Regulations 2005 (IHR), all vessels travelling in international waters are
required to have a current Ship Sanitation Control Certificate or a Ship
Sanitation Control Exemption Certificate.
(http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/border-health/maritime-border-
control/ship-sanitation-certification-system)

In the 15 June 2007 the International Health Regulations (2005) replaced

Deratting/Deratting Exemption Certificates with the Ship Sanitation Control
Exemption Certificate and Ship Sanitation Control Certificate.

Ship Sanitation Control Exemption Certificates

These are issued when a public health authority has inspected a ship and found no evidence of
public health risks on board and that the ship is free from infection and contamination, including
vectors and reservoirs.

The Inspections focus on disease vectors such as rodents and arthropods, and conditions
associated with high-risk infections.

OBJECTIVE: This global system helps to minimise the risk to spread any disease through
vessels.

ISSUE: it is issued by the Public Health Authority, after of has inspected the ship

Also there is the Ship Sanitation Control Certificates

These are issued when evidence of a public health risk including sources of infection and/or
contamination were detected on board. The control certificate records the evidence found and
the control measures.

TIME TO REFRESH THE CERTIFICATE: These certificates must be change at least every six
months, so ship sanitation control inspections need to be undertaken at six-monthly intervals.
Health officers are available to undertake a ship sanitation control inspection if the certificate is
due to expire within the next month or before a vessel's arrival at the next port.
 HOW I GET A INSPECCION:The vessel or their agents should solicit inspections for ship
sanitation certificates through the Advance Notice of Arrival Form. The relevant public health
unit choose if is time of doing a inspection.

Port health officials dont inspect the vessel at night or at weekends, unless there is a important
reason.

Inspections will likely include:

checking documentation, including:

ship sanitation certification

Maritime Declaration of Health

ships logs, medical logs

management plans (for example, water bunkering, food safety, pest control,
sewage, etc,)

ballast water certificates

ship potable water records (chemical and bacteriological testing records and
certification of source quality for last loaded bunkered water)

waste disposal records( delete

food source and storage records

sanitation audit log

checking rodent guards are on all mooring lines and correctly orientated

physical inspections of key areas of the vessel, such as:

accommodation areas

galley

food storage

engine room

holds

medical facilities

water storage tanks/water pipes

waste-water holding tanks/sewer pipes

solid-waste storage and disposal

 deck spaces for standing water.

When the inspection finished the Health Protection Officer will talk with the Ships Master about
the control measures if there are observations

EXTENSION: Officials have the authority to grant up to a 30-day extension to any vessel as
long as its ship sanitation certificate is valid when the extension is issued.

http://www.who.int/ihr/ports_airports/ssc/en/