Defence maritime regulations

These Ministry of Defence (MOD) maritime regulations are issued by the Defence Maritime Regulator and form the basis of MOD’s regulatory framework for MOD Maritime activities. They should be read by people and organisations conducting maritime activity on behalf of the MOD.

The goal of the regulations is to ensure that the management of safety and environmental protection of defence maritime activities can achieve outcomes at least as good as those governed by UK and international legislation.

Key UK Acts are:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• Merchant Shipping Act 1995
• Diving at Work Regulations 1997
• Dockyard Ports Regulation Act 1865
• For MOD shipping, the goal can also be traced to the international baseline of UNCLOS through IMO (with MARPOL), SOLAS and the ILO.

There is an associated regulatory terms for the application of the regulations to MOD Shipping, and these may be requested from the Defence Maritime Regulator.

This edition of the Defence Maritime Regulations for Health Safety and Environmental Protection becomes effective from 1 January 2023. The current version of the regulations, published 01 November 2021, remain extant until 31 December 2022.