Bangladesh

No citizen or company of Bangladesh may acquire any ship or any share or interest therein, or being the owner of any Bangladesh ship or share or interest therein may sell, mortgage, or otherwise transfer such a ship or share or interest to any person except with the previous permission in writing of the Government and if such permission is granted, it may be subject to the terms and conditions as the Government may see fit. In addition, no Bangladeshi ship may be converted, modified, or altered in such a manner so as to change the character of the ship without the prior permission in writing from the Director-General of Shipping.

Whoever contravenes or attempts to contravene these laws is punishable with imprisonment up to three years or with a fine which may extend to one lakh take or both, and any transaction made in contravention thereof is considered void. For the registration of ships, the Registrar of Bangladesh Ships keeps a book called the Register Book located at the port of Chittagong. An original application (faxed or photocopied documents are not allowed) for the registration of a Bangladeshi ship shall be made to the Registrar by the owner thereof, or, if there be more than one owner, by one or more of them or by one or more agents appointed for that purpose. The appointment of an agent shall be in writing, if made by an individual, under his hand and, if made by a company, under its common seal. Prior to registration, a Government Surveyor or a surveyor of an authorized classification society must inspect the vessel and will issue a Certificate of the Surveyor including the ship's tonnage and build and such other particulars descriptive of the identity of the ship as may be prescribed. The Certificate must be submitted to the Registrar of Ships. Subject to the other provisions of the Ordinance, a person shall not be registered as the owner of a Bangladeshi ship or of a share therein unless he or, in the case of a company, the person authorized in this capacity, has made and signed a Declaration of Ownership in the prescribed form referring to the ship as described in the Certificate of the Surveyor and containing the following particulars:
- Statement that the requirements as to ownership specified in clause (26) of section 2 of the Ordinance are satisfied
- Statement of the date and place of the ship's construction or, if the ship was built outside Bangladesh and the time and place of building are not known or the Builder's
Certificate cannot be procured, then a statement to that effect
- In the case of a ship previously registered outside Bangladesh, a statement of the name by which she was so registered, or in the case of a ship condemned, a statement of the time, place and court at and by which she was condemned
- Statement that the permission, if any, required under section 34 of the Ordinance has been obtained, or that such permission is not necessary
- The name of the master and his citizenship
- The number of shares in the ship in respect of which the individual or corporate applicant claims to be registered as owner
- Declaration that the particulars stated are true to the best of the applicant's knowledge and belief
In respect of a ship or share owned by more than one person, a declaration may be made by any one of them authorized by the whole group in this behalf. For the purpose of registration of a Bangladeshi ship, the following evidence shall be produced by the applicant in addition to the above described Declaration of Ownership:
- In the case of a ship built in Bangladesh, the Builder's Certificate (i.e., a certificate signed by the builder of the ship and containing a true account of the proper denomination and the tonnage of the ship as estimated by him and the time when and the place where she was built, and the name of the person, if any, on whose account the ship was built) and, if there has been any sale, the instrument of sale under which the ship or a share therein has become vested in the applicant
- In the case of a ship built outside Bangladesh, the same evidence as in the case of a ship built in Bangladesh, but where the person making the declaration of ownership declares that the time and place of building are not known to him or that the Builder's Certificate cannot be procured, only the instrument of sale under which the ship or a share therein has become vested in the applicant is necessary
- The permission, if any, obtained under section 34 of ordinance XXVI of 1983

If the person granting a Builder's Certificate makes a false statement therein, he, and in the case of a certificate granted outside Bangladesh, his agent or representative in Bangladesh, shall be punishable by a fine. Prior to registration, every ship in respect of which an application for registration is made shall be marked in the prescribed manner permanently and conspicuously and to the satisfaction of the Registrar. The marks required must be maintained and shall not be altered except in the event of any of the particulars thereby denoted being altered in the manner provided by the Ordinance, except to evade capture by the enemy or by a foreign ship of war in the exercise of some belligerent right. If an owner or master of a Bangladeshi ship neglects to cause his ship to be marked as required or to keep her so marked, or if any person conceals, removes, alters, defaces, or obliterates, or suffers any person under his control to conceal, remove, alter, deface or obliterate any of the said marks, except in the special circumstances mentioned, he shall for each offense, be punishable with a fine. In addition, if a certificate from a Surveyor states that a ship is insufficiently or inaccurately marked, the ship may be detained until the insufficiency or inaccuracy has been remedied. As soon as the Declaration of Ownership and supporting documents are submitted, the Registrar shall register the ship by making entry of the following particulars in the Register Book:
- Name of the ship and the name of the port to which she belongs
- Details contained in the Certificate of the Surveyor
- Particulars respecting her origin stated in the Declaration of Ownership
- Name and description of her owner or owners, and, if there is more than one owner, the number of shares owned by each of them

A Certificate of Registry will then be issued with unlimited duration. The Registrar may refuse to register a Bangladeshi ship by the name by which she is proposed to be registered if that name is already borne by another ship or if the name be so similar thereto as is calculated or likely to deceive, or is otherwise undesirable. If a ship becomes entitled to be registered as a Bangladeshi ship in a port outside Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi Consular Officer may, upon receipt of specific instructions from the Registrar General, grant to the master of the ship a Provisional Certificate of Registry in such form as may be prescribed by the Government and shall forthwith forward a copy thereof to the Registrar General. A Provisional Certificate shall have the effect of a Certificate of Registry until the expiration of six months from its date or until the arrival of the ship at a Bangladeshi port.