Defence maritime regulations
This publication specifies the defence maritime regulations for health, safety and environmental protection for UK Ministry of Defence maritime activity.
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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.
The Compliance Matrix provides the Defence Maritime Domain with a downloadable file to aid the recording of compliance statements with the latest version of the DMR Regulations.
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.
The 2025 edition of the DSA02 - Defence Maritime Regulations for Health, Safety and Environmental Protection becomes effective from 1 January 2025. The latest version of the 2025 regulations remains extant until 31 December 2025.
The 2026 edition of the DSA02 - Defence Maritime Regulations for Health, Safety and Environmental Protection becomes effective from 1 January 2026.
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.