Notification of the Inland Vessels (Central Database and Allied matters) Rules, 2024

REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99 The Gazette of India CG-DL-E-01112024-258408 EXTRAORDINARY PART II-Section 3-Sub-section (i) PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY No. 612] NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2024/KARTIKA 7, 1946 MINISTRY OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 29th October 2024 G.S.R. 670(E).—Whereas draft of the Inland Vessels (Central Database and Allied Matters) Rules, 2024 were published, as required under sub-section (1) of section 106 of the Inland Vessels Act, 2021 (24 of 2021), vide notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways number G.S.R. 333 (E), dated the 18th June, 2024, in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), dated the 18th June, 2024, inviting objections and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby before the expiry of the period of thirty days from the date on which copies of Gazette containing the said notification were made available to the public; And whereas copies of the said notification were made available to the public on 18th June, 2024; And whereas no objections and suggestions were received from the public in respect of the said draft rules by the Central Government; Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under clause (f) of section 3, section 22, clauses (a), (o) and (zza) of sub-section (2) of section 106 and section 108 of the Inland Vessels Act, 2021 (24 of 2021), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely. - 1. Short title and commencement. (1) These rules may be called the Inland Vessels (Central Database and Allied Matters) Rules, 2024. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in Official Gazette. 2. Definitions. (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, - (a) "Act" means the Inland Vessels Act 2021 (24 of 2021); (b) "nodal office” means office designated by the competent authority; (c) "nodal officer" means any officer appointed by the competent authority to administer the nodal office and to perform duties under rule 5; (d) "portal" means a web or electronic based system set up and maintained by the nodal officer and the officers or persons appointed under sub-rule (4) of rule 5 for,— (i) facilitating the processes relating to survey and registration of vessels, issuance of certificates in respect of vessels and the issuance of certificates of competency to the crew; (ii) preserving, retaining and granting access to machine readable, printable, shareable, verifiable and secure electronic records; (iii) maintaining a repository of electronic records containing all particulars pertaining to vessels registered; (iv) maintaining a repository of electronic records containing all details and data of the certificates of competency issued to the crew; (v) maintaining a repository of electronic records containing all details and data of reception facilities and (vi) such other data (e) "third party access" means access of central database in accordance with these rules, by any owner of vessel or authorised representatives of the owner of vessel or ship manager or crew or training institutes or ship designer or classification societies or ship builder or service provider or but does not include administrative or statutory authorities under the Act or the rules. (2) Words and expressions used in these rules and not defined, but defined in the Act, shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act. 3. Form of central database. - The central database referred to in clause (f) of section 3 of the Act shall contain the following data and details in electronic form, namely- (i) application for conducting survey of vessel; (ii) declaration to be issued by the surveyor; (iii) record of equipment and vessel information; (iv) application for provisional certificate of survey; (v) provisional certificate of survey; (vi) survey certificate of category A, B and C vessel; (vii) particulars to be furnished for survey of new vessel which is to be surveyed for the first time; (viii) official log book for an inland mechanically propelled vessel; (ix) application for change of name of the vessel on certificate of survey, as contained in form 1 to 9 of the Inland Vessels (Survey and Certification) Rules, 2022; (x) Book of registration of vessels and application for registration, declaration of ownership, appointment of date and time of inspection of the inland vessel by the registering authority; (xi) carving and marking note, application regarding registration, application for transfer of registry, instrument creating, transfer or discharge of mortgage, application for issuance of provisional certificate of registration as contained in Forms 1 to 13 of the Inland Vessels (Registration and other technical issues) Rules, 2022; (xii) certificates of competency issued to crew, medical certificate for appearing for certificate of competency, certificate of service, application form for appearing in certificate of competency, as contained in Forms 1 to 3 of the Inland Vessels (Manning) Rules, 2022; (xiii) certificate of compliance for prevention and containment of pollution, as contained in Third Schedule of the Inland Vessels (Prevention and Containment of Pollution) Rules, 2022, certificate of insurance as contained in Form 2 of the Inland Vessels (Insurance, Limitation of Liability and Obligations of Service Providers and Service Users) Rules, 2022; (xiv) data and details of reception facilities: and (xv) such other data as may be directed to be included by the competent authority 4. Powers to issue directions. - The competent authority shall issue directions regarding the qualifications, criteria and other terms and conditions for selection and appointment of nodal officer for the purposes of these rules. 5. Duties of nodal officer. - (1) The nodal officer shall monitor, administer and maintain the central database and shall ensure that the information duly recorded and available in the web portal is secured and functional. (2) The nodal officer shall be responsible for collecting the data and details from the designated authorities of each State under rule 9. (3) A report of performance and data received from the designated authorities under rule 9 shall be provided by the nodal officer to the competent authority at such regular intervals, as may be directed by the competent authority. (4) The nodal officer after prior permission of the competent authority for the purposes of performing the duties under sub-rule (1), may appoint officers or persons, who are experts in the field of information technology, data handling and protection and software or hardware development. Such appointment shall be made in accordance with the guidelines, terms and conditions as mandated by the Central Government from time to time. (5) The nodal officer shall provide for training of officers or persons appointed under him to ensure appropriate utilisation of the database and the management of information contained therein, and shall also provide training of officials of designated authorities, other sub-ordinate officers and stakeholders on database and management of information. (6) The nodal officer and the officers or persons appointed under sub-rule (4) of rule 5, in order to maintain the central database shall (i) ensure the integrity, security, standards and quality of data; (ii) ensure scalability and performance optimisation; (iii) make sufficient mechanisms for backup and recovery; (iv) ensure consistency of data; (v) maintain documentation and metadata; (vi) ensure performance monitoring and optimisation; (vii) ensure compliance with relevant data protection regulations such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Guidelines; (viii) ensure change management and regular maintenance; and (ix) comply with standard operating procedures and guidelines for maintenance of the database, as may be issued by the competent authority from time to time. 6. Standards and procedures for maintaining the central database. - (1) Subject to the provisions of rule 5, the nodal officer shall ensure that the following standards and procedures are implemented for maintaining the database, namely: - (i) managing the database properly; (ii) identification of individuals or teams responsible for data quality, integrity, and security; (iii) defining processes for data creation, storage, retrieval, and archiving or deletion; (iv) defining roles such as admin, user, guest and specify access rights for each role; (v) implementation of secure login mechanisms and determine who can access what data; (vi) ensure logging of all database activities for traceability and accountability; (vii) performing frequent backups and updates; (viii) defining retention policies for backup data to ensure compliance and optimise storage usage; (ix) forming a dedicated database to keep the data intact and secured; (x) recording the details as mandated under clause (f) of section 3, sub-section (3) of section 41 of the Act or rules made thereunder; (xi) providing source of information or data that has been recorded, maintained and available for verification by authorities concerned; (xii) providing user manual, restrictions, procedures and terms and conditions of accessibility to administration or third-party access; (xiii) assigning registration of accounts, user identity and passwords for user interface; (xiv) providing procedures for uploading of information; (xv) providing privacy policies, liabilities and copy rights; (xvi) updating the database periodically; (xvii) maintaining history of searches; (xviii) providing necessary disclaimers; (xix) scheduling routine maintenance tasks such as database optimisation, patch management, and software updates; (xx) utilising collaboration platforms for effective communication among database stakeholders; (xxi) establishing channels for users to provide feedback and suggestions for database improvement; (xxii) conducting regular reviews of database guidelines, policies, and procedures to address evolving needs and technologies; (xxiii) continuous improvement by soliciting feedback and incorporating lessons learned from past experiences; and (xxiv) scanning of legacy data and uploading in central database. (xxv) such other matters as may be directed to be included by the competent authority from time to time; (2) The users of the central database shall ensure that use or search is fully in conformity with the standards and procedures provided under these rules. 7. Accessibility: - (1) The concerned officials of Central Government, Competent Authority, Designated Authorities, or officials of State Government shall have complete access to the central database; (2) The nodal officer and the officers and persons appointed by the nodal officer under sub-rule (4) of rule 5, shall have complete access to the database. (3) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1) & sub-rule (2), in compliance with terms and conditions issued by the competent authority, limited third party access to generic data may be provided. (4) Owners of vessels shall have access only to the information relating to the vessels owned by them. (5) Crew shall have limited access only to their profiles. (6) Training institutes shall have access to their own institute data. 8. Confidentiality: - (1) Any information obtained from the search on the central database shall be treated as confidential and shall not be disclosed except for a purpose declared as permitted by the competent authority. (2) For the purpose of this rule, competent authority may, by directions, provide for such terms and conditions subject to which information could be disclosed by the user. 9. Duty of the designated authority. (1) The designated authority of each State shall be responsible for providing the data and details contained in rule 3 to the nodal officer in electronic format at regular intervals of not more than thirty days. (2) The designated authority of each State shall be responsible for creating new electronic records in real time of the data and details contained in rule 3. [F. No. IWT-11011/114/2021-IWT] Dr. KAMALA KANTA NATH, Adviser (Statistics) Uploaded by Dte. of Printing at Government of India Press, Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi-110064 and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054. RAVINDER KUMAR Digitally signed by RAVINDER KUMAR Date: 2024.11.01 19:21:03 +05'30'