Liability for passengers

• Insurance for damages of passengers at sea
• Passenger liability certificate
• Application of a Passenger Liability Certificate
• Passenger Liability Certificate on board
• Legal basis

Insurance for damages of passengers at sea

Carriers of passengers by sea are liable for the loss suffered as a result of the death or injuries of passengers as well as the loss of or damage to their cabin luggage and other luggage. The carrier is liable if the incident causing the damage happened due to a shipping incident or a fault or neglect of the carrier.

The carrier shall maintain insurance or other financial security (e. g. a bank guarantee) to cover liability in case of the death or personal injury of passengers, if

• the carrier actually performs the whole or a part of the carriage; and
• the ship is licensed to carry more than twelve passengers.

Compulsory insurance initially applies for

• international carriage and
• carriages by sea within the Federal Republic of Germany on ships of Class A and Class B in accordance with Article 4 paragraph 1 of the Directive 2009/45/EC.

International carriages are carriages where according to the contract of carriage where the place of departure and the place of destination are situated in

• two different states; or
• a single state if according to the contract of carriage or the scheduled itinerary an intermediate port of call is in another state.

Sea areas of class A and B acc. to Art. 4 para. 1 of Directive 2009/45/EC are presented on a map.

The class B area designates a sea area having geographical coordinates that are at no point more than 20 nm away from the coastline corresponding to the medium tide height, which is, however, outside of the areas C and D. The sea area A designates a sea area outside of the areas B, C and D.

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Issuance of a Passenger Liability Certificate

By issuing a Passenger Liability Certificate under Regulation (EC) No 392/2009, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, BSH, confirms that the relevant insurance or other financial security is in place.

Prerequisite to apply for a Passenger Liability Certificate at the BSH is that the ship

• flies the Federal flag, or
• flies the flag of a non-EU Member State and/or a non-State Party to the Athens Convention relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea, 1974, as amended by the Protocol of 2002.

Important note:
A Passenger Liability Certificate issued by the BSH must not contain handwritten or any other kind of changes by a third party, particularly not by classification societies. Any changes are inadmissible and may be relevant under criminal law.

The Passenger Liability Certificate is issued for a maximum period of one year. The fee for each liability certificate is 118,- EUR (in accordance with BMDV ordinance on fees - BMDV-WS-BesGebV).

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Application of a Passenger Liability Certificate

The BSH issues the Passenger Liability Certificate only on written or electronic application of the carrier that is actually performing the carriage. Please use this application form and submit it and the application documents (PDF files) with an e-mail to the BSH.

In addition, an authorisation is required in the described cases below:

• If not the carrier but a person authorised by him or her submits the application, please submit an authorisation form;
• if the ship does not fly the German flag and/or the carrier does not have a registered office in Germany, a person authorised to receive communication with a registered office in Germany has to be dedicated. In this case, please submit the "Authorisation to receive communication".

For all other details regarding the application and potential authorisations, electronic certificates and verification of electronic certificates, please note our Information on electronic liability certificates.

Please note: The carrier must notify the BSH immediately of any changes in the security covers provided, which are indicated in the Passenger Liability Certificate.

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Passenger Liability Certificate on board

On board the electronic Passenger Liability Certificate must be presented on demand as electronic copy on a computer screen or as hardcopy. You can verify the authenticity and validity of the Passenger Liability Certificate on this website:

• either with this link http://www.deutsche-flagge.de/en/certificates-verification/e-certificates: when you follow the link, you will need to enter the TID (at the bottom of the document) in the text field. After entering, the electronic liability certificate is displayed.
• or with the QR Code at the bottom left of the document: when you scan the QR Code, the electronic liaibility certificate will be shown directly.

Further information is given in an INFORMATION LETTER of the German Flag State Administration.

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Legal basis

• Regulation (EC) No 392/2009 of the European Parliament and Council of 23rd of April 2009 on the liability of carriers of passengers by sea in the event of accidents;
• Directive 2009/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on safety rules and standards for passenger ships
• Act on particular proofs of insurance in maritime shipping (Seeversicherungsnachweisgesetz – SeeVersNachwG)
• Ordinance on the issuance of liability certificates in aacordance with the Seeversicherungsnachweisgesetz (Seeversicherungsnachweisverordnung – SeeVersNachwV)

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