Legalization of a vessel or any other type of floating material
This information is addressed to all persons, individual or collective, commercial and fishing ship-owners, owners of recreational craft, who wish to legalize, due to import from a foreign country (Community or non), a vessel or other floating material, in order to register it under the Portuguese flag.
1. Vessels legalization (by reason of import) project
The legalization, by reason of import, of a vessel corresponds to a Registration and Certification process, in order to comply with the provisions of Decree-Law no. 150/88 of 15th April.
The project elements to be approved by DGRM through the DNC (New Constructions Division) for a legalization of a vessel (by reason of import) or any other type of floating material, shall describe in detail the vessel or other floating material, serving also to evaluate its safety conditions in the light of current European, national and /or international regulations adopted by Portugal.
All correspondence relating to the legalization project will be made between DGRM and the owner/ship-owner, except in cases where the owner/ship-owner has then expressed it, and has indicated, by means of a Declaration/Power of Attorney, who is its legal representative for the purposes of the proceeding. The DGRM shall also inform the Captaincy’ registration of the vessel or floating material, the delegations of the DGRM involved in the procedure and, in the case of fishing vessels, Fleet Division of the DGRM.
The project elements for instruction of a vessel´s "safety process" is presented by the owner/ship-owner, or the duly identified legal representative and shall include the following documents:
a) Trade vessels, tugs, supply vessels and recreational crafts:
Services Request is available under "Execute Service" and shall include:
- Name, Address, Contacts and Tax Identification of the Owner/Ship-owner and the legal representative (if is appointed);
- Ship documents;
- Letter of Fleet Division authorizing the modification of the vessel.
The process will be instructed and organized as described in section 2 "Organization of the Process".
b) Fishing Vessels:
The instruction of a legalization process (Registration and Certification) of a Fishing vessel is only possible if it is authorized by the Fleet Division (DF) of the DGRM. For more information see "Fleet".
The presentation of the project elements for the instruction of a vessel´s "safety process" is presented by the owner/ship-owner and the following documents shall be delivered:
Services Request is available at Execute Service and which shall include:
- Name, Address, Contacts and Fiscal Identification of the Owner/Ship-owner and his legal representative (if is appointed);
- Ship documents;
- Letter of the Fleet Division authorizing the legalization of the vessel.
The process will be investigated and organized as described in section 2 "Organization of the Process".
2. Process Organization
The process should include a list with the name of the technical documents presented.
The process should be accompanied by all the documents necessary for its analysis. Incomplete processes will not be accepted and instructed. For more information see "What documentation do I need?”
For each technical document, two copies should be provided, one of which will be deposited in the archives of the DGRM and the other will be returned to the requesting entity.
The drawings should be legible, conveniently folded, perfectly identified, subtitled and quoted, and written in Portuguese. The drawings composed of collages or plans that are distorted due to their reproduction will not be accepted.
A sheet may contain more than one of the plans identified in the annexes, provided that: it does not impair the legibility of the drawings, does not influence the choice of the appropriate scale, and the names of the documents are written in the legend. The same procedure can be given to the calculation books.
All drawings that fully represent the vessel, on at least one of the orthogonal planes, should inscribe the major dimensions in space above the legend.
The paper dimensions should conform to one of the following drawing formats:
| Series A |
| Series B |
| Series C |
|
| Designation | Dimensions (mm x mm) | Designation | Dimensions (mm x mm) | Designation | Dimensions (mm x mm) |
| A0 | 841 x 1189 | B0 | 1000 x 1414 | C0 | 917 x 1297 |
| A1 | 594 x 841 | B1 | 707 x 1000 | C1 | 648 x 917 |
| A2 | 420 x 594 | B2 | 500 x 707 | C2 | 458 x 648 |
| A3 | 297 x 420 | B3 | 353 x 500 | C3 | 324 x 458 |
| A4 | 210 x 297 | B4 | 250 x 353 | C4 | 229 x 324 |
The legend should be drawn in the lower right corner of the drawing, and should contain the following elements:
a) Identification of the vessel;
b) Designation of technical drawings;
c) Identification of those responsible for the execution of the drawing;
d) Name (s) of the ship-owner (s);
e) General information on the characteristics of the drawing (scales, dates, etc.);
f) Reference to any changes that may be made to the drawing.
The folding of the drawings shall comply with the following rules: when folded, it must have the dimensions of the A4 size (210 x 297); the legend stands on the frontispiece of the folded drawing.
The choice of the line thickness and its type should take into account several factors, such as: drawing in view, in section or in invisible parts.
Some types of lines are: continuous line, interrupted line, dot-dash and long dash alternating with short, all of which can use various line thicknesses.
The dimensioning of the drawings should comply with the Portuguese rules on this matter.
The drawings should comply with one of the following reduction scales:
1:2 1:5 1:1*
1:2,5 1:50 1:10
1:20 1:100
1:25
1:200
1:250
* Reproduction equal to the object
The legend should have the scale, and if there is more than one scale, the main scale will be indicated in bigger characters.
The choice of the drawing scale should take into account the main dimensions of the vessel, the size of the paper and the purpose for which it is intended in order to provide a clear reading of these.
For instance, the most suitable scales for the drawings according to the overall length (Cff/LOA) are as follows:
| Cff / LOA (m) | Scales |
| <10 | 1:10 |
| 10 - 20 | 1:20 ou 1:25 |
| 20 – 50 | 1:50 |
| 50 – 100 | 1:100 |
| 100 – 200 | 1:100 ou 1:200 |
| >200 | 1:200 |
The System of units to be used shall be the International System (SI), with its multiple and decimal submultiples, identified by its symbols. The use of the SI comprises, in addition to the fundamental units, its supplementary and derived units.
Incomplete processes will not be accepted and instructed.
For each technical document, two copies shall be provided, one of which will be deposited in the archives of the DGRM and the other will be returned to the requesting entity.
Trade Vessels: (in progress)
Embarcações de Pesca:
The documents to be submitted for approval depend on the navigation area and the vessel length. For more information see "Fleet" / "In and Out of Vessels" / "Entries in the Fleet".
The following documents should be submitted:
- Local Fishing Vessels
Download (120kbytes)
- Coastal Fishing Vessels of length between perpendiculars of <12 m
Download (124kbytes)
- Coastal Fishing Vessels of length between perpendiculars of 12 and 24 m
Download (168kbytes)
- Coastal Fishing Vessels of length between perpendiculars of ≥ 24 m
Download (184kbytes)
- Wide Fishing Vessels of length between perpendiculars of <45 m
Download (120kbytes)
- Wide Fishing Vessels between perpendiculars of ≥ 45 m
Download (200kbytes)
Supply vessels: (in progress)
Tugs: (in progress)
Recreational crafts: (in progress)
The rates table in force defines different values for the different types of vessels. The appointment of the inspections to be carried out is made during the process analysis.
After the completion of a technical legalization process, the following documents will be issued to trade vessels, tugboats and supply vessels:
- Declaration for the purposes of registration in accordance with Article 7 of Decree-Law no. 150/88 of 15th April;
- Tonnage Certificate.
To Fishing vessels shall be issued:
- Registration Statement;
- Tonnage Certificate.
To Recreational crafts:
- Information for the purpose of Registration of recreational craft, in the case of vessels Type 1, 2 or 3;
- Registration Statement, in the case of vessels Type 4 or 5 vessels.
After the registration of the vessels, the owners/ship owners, or their legal representatives, shall request the issuance of all other certificates that the vessels shall have.
For any questions related to legalization of vessels or other floating material, please contact dsam.requerimentos@dgrm.mm.gov.pt.
In the case of issues specifically related to modification of fishing vessels, please contact df@dgrm.mm.gov.pt.