Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) If:
(a) while a ship is at a foreign port at which there is a proper officer, it becomes a ship entitled to be registered; or
(b) while a ship is at sea or at a foreign port at which there is no proper officer, it becomes a ship entitled to be registered and, subsequently, but before arriving at an Australian port, it arrives at a foreign port at which there is a proper officer;
the proper officer at that port may, subject to the regulations, grant a provisional registration certificate in respect of the ship in accordance with the approved form.
(2) Subject to subsection (4), a provisional registration certificate granted in respect of a ship under this section has the same effect as a registration certificate, and, for the purposes of this Act and of the lawful navigation of the ship, the ship shall be deemed to be registered, until:
(a) the ship arrives at an Australian port; or
(b) the expiration of a period of 6 months commencing on the date on which the certificate was granted;
whichever first happens.
(3) Where a proper officer grants a provisional registration certificate under this section, he or she shall forward a copy of the certificate to the Registrar.
(4) If, while a provisional registration certificate granted in respect of a ship under subsection (1) is in effect, application is made in the manner prescribed, the Registrar may, by notice in writing served on the applicant, extend, in relation to the certificate, the period referred to in paragraph (2)(b) and, in that event, the reference in that paragraph to a period of 6 months shall be read as a reference to that period as so extended.
(5) The person who has possession of a provisional registration certificate granted in respect of a ship under subsection (1) shall, within 10 days after the ship first arrives at an Australian port after the grant, lodge the certificate with the Registrar.
(6) Upon lodgment of a provisional registration certificate under subsection (5), the Registrar may grant a further provisional registration certificate in respect of the ship in accordance with the approved form.
(7) A provisional registration certificate granted in respect of a ship under subsection (6) has the same effect as a registration certificate for such period after the date on which the certificate was granted as the Registrar specifies in the certificate and, for the purposes of this Act and of the lawful navigation of the ship, the ship shall be deemed to be registered during that period.