PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: María Teresa Diaz, Nadya Price and Joaquín De Obarrio, Patton Moreno & Asvat
aboard flag ships around the world as well as incidents in Panama’s jurisdictional waters. In the case of pollution or wreck removal, the Directorate General of Ports of the PMA is the entity in charge of investigating and carrying out related actions. 1.3 Domestic Legislation Applicable to Ship Registration Laws 55 and 57 of 6 August 2008, known as the Maritime Commerce Law and the General Merchant Marine Law, respectively, are the legis - lation that govern all matters related to the regis - tration of domestic and international service ves - sels under the laws of the Republic of Panama. There are two governmental institutions within the PMA in charge of the registration of vessels: • the Directorate General of Merchant Marine (DIGEMAR), which is in charge of all adminis - trative matters such as the enrolment of ves - sels and ensuring related safety and security matters; and • the Directorate General of Public Registry of Property of Vessels (the “Ships Registry”), which is in charge of recording all matters related to the legal status of vessels concern - ing ownership and encumbrances. 1.4 Requirements for Ownership of Vessels There are no citizenship requirements for regis - tration of a vessel under the Panamanian reg - ister. Any person, natural or juridical, irrespec - tive of nationality, may enrol a vessel under the Panamanian flag. Panamanian laws allow the registration of a vessel while under construction. To that end, a certificate issued by the ship-yard, describing
the vessel being built, the name of the company for which the vessel is being constructed and a declaration of the intention to transfer owner - ship thereof, will serve as title of ownership to be registered at the Ships Registry. 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels The General Merchant Marine Law of Panama allows temporary registrations, as follows. Special Registration for Temporary Navigation This registration allows the enrolment of a vessel for a period of up to three months for ultimate scrapping, for a delivery voyage or for any other kind of temporary navigational purpose. The interested party needs to pay a single charge of 40% of the net tonnage of the vessel plus USD150. The vessel will be deleted by operation of law at the end of the three-month period at no cost, but the interested party may, at any moment, request that deletion by way of filing a petition thereof and effecting payment of the regular governmental deletion fees. The registration of title of ownership or mort - gages is optional for this type of registration. Nevertheless, if a mortgage is to be recorded, the registration of title must contain acknowl - edgement by the mortgagee that the registration of the vessel will elapse at the end of the three- month registration period. Lay-Up Registration This registration is valid for one renewable year and allows the registration of vessels under lay- up status, subject to certification issued by a recognised organisation (RO) or the applicable port authority where the vessel is located.
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