Book Review: International Yacht Law by Nikolay G. Khovrin
Books tackling the subject of shipping law are never going to fall into the best seller lists. When taken as a stand alone subject, there are many shipping law books that make no sense at all to the lay reader. Happily this is not one of those books.
In International Yacht Law by Nikolay G. Khovrin we find a well written law book specifically aimed at the superyacht industry.
It sets out to clarify the argument that an owner of an ocean going yacht is a subject of the international law of the sea. As such it details how that owner has a full right to enjoy the freedom of navigation without undue intervention of domestic laws of coastal states both fiscal or otherwise. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the many aspects of yachting law, covering legal issues arising during the entire life of a yacht.
The book is of crucial importance to commercial yacht owners, providing as it does, a step by step guide on how to regain lost fiscal privileges through legal and technical redress. It contains all the necessary forms and statutory texts and illustrates the need to use them by quoting case histories and pithy comment
The author provokingly puts forward arguments that an owner of a high seas going yacht is a subject of the international law of the sea and as such has a full right to enjoy the freedom of navigation enjoyed by small passenger ships without undue intervention of domestic laws of coastal states both fiscal or otherwise.
He then defines practical steps for the owner in order to protect himself and his yacht as well as helping those interested in re-classing and re-flaging their yachts.
While pointing out that nations around the world have yet agree on the definition of the term; yacht unlike for instance, the term warship, the author argues that a yacht should be defined as a sea-going small passenger ship utilised in non-commercial activity.
This, he suggests would make a yacht, a sub-class of a passenger ship. But because the international law including SOLAS does not define the term small passenger ship, the author then suggests that by using the Cyprus Coastal and Other Passenger Vessels Regulations, there is a way forward.
Under these regulations small passenger ship is defined as “a marine craft or high speed small vessel engaged in voyages in areas beyond the coast of the Republic, carrying not more than 12 passengers”.
This he suggests would close the gap between the SOLAS definition of a passenger ship (>12 pax) and a small passenger ship with less than 12 passengers and would provide yacht owners with an opportunity to upgrade the yachts up to the standards of the small passenger ships. With a nod to the NATO reporting name for a diesel-electric attack submarine made in Russia, he even goes so far as to suggest a name for this class of vessel, calling it a Kilo Class yacht
Comprehensively, the 157 page book will be helpful to lawyers, yacht owners, managers, superyacht Captains and other professionals involved in all aspects of yachting, from design, construction, registration, financing and operation and related issues.
Legal practitioners should find the good selection of case histories at the end of the book, helpful.
About the author
Nikolay G. Khovrin graduated from Moscow University of the International Relations (MGIMO) in 1993. Aside his activity as a businessman, he is founding partner of Khovrin International Law Office GmbH headquartered in Bern Switzerland an international law firm operating in Switzerland, as well as in the Republic of Cyprus and in the Russian Federation. With over 20 years of professional experience working both as in-house lawyer as well as an independent attorney, Khovrin has a high profile in international cases worldwide.
- Paperback: 157 pages
- Publisher: KHOVRIN International Law Office GmbH
- First Edition 31 July 2017
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 996323111X
- ISBN-13: 978-9963231119
- Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.8 x 1.5 cm
- Available on line through Amazon