QUARANTINE ACT

QUARANTINE ACT

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SECTION

1. Short title.

2. Interpretation.

3. Power to declare any place an infected local area.

4. Regulations.

5. Penalties.

6. Provision of sanitary stations.

7. Jurisdiction of magistrates.

8. State quarantine and powers.

An Act to provide for and regulate the imposition of quarantine and to make other provisions for preventing the introduction into and spread in Nigeria, and the transmission from Nigeria, of dangerous infectious diseases.

[18 of 1926. 7 of 1929. L.N. 131 of 1954)

1. Short title

[Commencement.]

[27th May, 1926]

This Act may be cited as the Quarantine Act.

2. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

“dangerous infectious disease” means cholera, plague, yellow fever, smallpox and typhus, and includes any disease of an infectious or contagious nature which the Presi- dent may, by notice, declare to be a dangerous infectious disease within the meaning of this Act;

[1929 No. 7]

“local area” means a well-defined area, such as a local government area, a depart- ment, a canton, an island, a commune, a town, a quarter of a town, a village, a port, an agglomeration, whatever may be the extent and population of such areas.

3. Power to declare any place an infected local area

The President may, by notice, declare any place whether within or without Nigeria to be an infected local area, and thereupon such place shall be an infected local area within the meaning of this Act.

[1929 No. 7]

4. Regulations

The President may make regulations for all or any of the following purposes-

(a) prescribing the steps to be taken within Nigeria upon any place, whether within or without Nigeria, being declared to be an infected local area;

(b) prescribing the introduction of any dangerous infectious disease into Nigeria or any part thereof from any place without Nigeria, whether such place is an in- fected local area or not;

(c) preventing the spread of any dangerous infectious disease from any place within Nigeria, whether an infected local area or not, to any other place within Nigeria;

(d) preventing the transmission of any dangerous infectious disease from Nigeria

or from any place within Nigeria, whether an infected local area or not, to any place without Nigeria;

(e) prescribing the powers and duties of such officers as may be charged with car- rying out such regulations;

(f) fixing the fees and charges to be paid for any matter or thing to be done under such regulations, and prescribing the persons by whom such fees and charges shall be paid, and the persons by whom the expenses of carrying out any such regulations shall be borne, and the persons from whom any such expenses in- curred by the Government may be recovered;

(g) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

[1929 No. 7.]

5. Penalties

Any person contravening any of the regulations made under this Act shall be liable to a fine of N200 or to imprisonment for a term of six months or to both.

6. Provision of sanitary stations

The President and within each State, the Governor thereof, may provide such sanitary stations, buildings and equipment, and appoint such sanitary anchorages as he may think necessary for the purposes of this Act.

[LN. 131 of 1954]

7. Jurisdiction of magistrates

Proceedings for imposing any fine or imprisonment under this Act or for recovering any expenses incurred or charged by the Government in carrying out the provisions of this Act may be commenced before and determined by any magistrate.

8. State quarantine and powers

If and to the extent that any declaration under section 2 or 3 or this Act has not been made, and to the extent that regulations under section 4 of this Act have not been made by the President, power to make any such declaration and to make such regulations may be exercised in respect of a State, by the Governor thereof as fully as such power may be exercised by the President, and subject to the same conditions and limitations.

[LN. 131 of 1954.1

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION

List of Subsidiary Legislation

1. Declaration of Dangerous Infectious Disease.

2. Quarantine (Ships) Regulations.

DECLARA TION OF DANGEROUS INFECTIOUS DISEASE

under section 2

Sleeping sickness is declared to be a dangerous disease within the meaning of the Act.

QUARANTINE (SHIPS) REGULATIONS

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

PART I

Preliminary

REGULATION

1. Short title.

2. Interpretation.

PART II

General

REGULATION

3. Inspection of ships.

4. Supply of information, etc., by master.

5. Enforcement and execution of regulations in a State.

6. Appointment and duties of authorised officers and provision of services.

7. List of infected areas.

PART III

Incoming ships

8. Declaration of approved and designated ports.

9. Radio pratique.

10. Notification of infectious diseases, etc., on board.

11. Signals.

11. Maritime Declaration of Health.

12. Restrictions on boarding or leaving ships.

13. Derailing Certificates and Derailing Exemption Certificates.

14. Detention and inspection of ships at mooring destinations.

15. Detention and inspection of ships at other places.

16. Examination and removal of infected persons from ships.

17. Persons arriving in Nigeria to produce certificate of vaccination and inoculation.

18. Port health officer to require name and intended destination to be given in certain cases.

19. Additional measures.

PART IV

Outgoing ships

21. Examination, etc., of persons proposing to embark.

22. Infected local area in Nigeria.

23. Surveillance.

24. Charges for services.

25. Savings for mails.

26. Savings for ships.

27. Sanitation in port areas.

PART V

Miscellaneous

28. Offences, penalty and proceedings.

SCHEDULES

FIRST SCHEDULE

Radio messages-items of information

SECOND SCHEDULE

Flags and signal lights

THIRD SCHEDULE

Maritime declaration of health

FOURTH SCHEDULE

Derailing and Derailing Exemption Certificates

FIFTH SCHEDULE

Additional measures=-quararuinable diseases

SIXTH SCHEDULE

International certificate of vaccination or re vaccination against smallpox

SEVENTH SCHEDULE

Forms

EIGHTH SCHEDULE

Fees

1. Short title

QUARANTINE (SHIPS) REGULATIONS

under section 4

[Commencement.] PART I

Preliminary

[4th December, 1968]

These Regulations may be cited as the Quarantine (Ships) Regulations.

2. Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations unless the context otherwise requires-

“additional measures” in relation to a quarantinable disease means such additional measures as are prescribed in respect of that disease in the Fifth Schedule to these Regu- lations;

[Fifth Schedule.]

“authorised officer” means a port health officer or any other officer appointed by the health administration of state under regulation 6 to these Regulations to enforce and exe- cute any of these Regulations;

“day” means any period of 24 hours;

“Deratting Certificate” means a certificate issued in accordance with sub-para- graph (a) of paragraph 4 of Article 52 of the International Sanitary Regulations;

“Deratting Exemption Certificate” means a certificate issued in accordance with sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph 4 of Article 52 of the International Sanitary Regulations;

“designated approved port” means a port approved by the Minister in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 17 of the International Sanitary Regulations for the issue of Deratting Exemption Certificates only;

“infected local area” means a port or other area included in the list kept by the port health officer pursuant to regulation 7 of these Regulations and reference to a local area infected with a specified disease shall be construed accordingly;

“infected person” means a person who is suffering from a quarantinable disease or is considered by the port health officer to be infected with such a disease;

“infected ship” means-

(a) a ship which has on board on arrival a case of human cholera, plague, small- pox or yellow fever;

(b) a ship on which a plague-infected rodent is found on arrival; or

(c) a ship which has had on board during its voyage-

(i) a case of cholera within five days before arrival; or

(ii) a case of human plague developed by the person more than six days after his embarkation; or

(iii) a case of yellow fever or smallpox, and which has not before arrival

been subjected in respect of such case to appropriate measures equiva- lent to those provided for in these Regulations;

“infectious disease” means a quarantinable disease or any other infectious or conta- gious disease other than venereal disease or tuberculosis;

“International Sanitary Regulations” means the International Sanitary Regulations (World Health Organisation Regulations No. 2) adopted by the Fourth World Health As- sembly on 25 May 1951, and as subsequently amended by any World Health Assembly;

“master” means the person for the time being in charge of or in command of a ship;

“Minister” means the Minister for Health;

“mooring station” means a place, situated within the waters of a port which is speci- fied by the port health officer, with the consent of the Collector of Customs for the area in which the port is situated and the Harbour Master, for the mooring of ships for medical inspection so that they do not come into contact with other ships or the shore;

“port authority” means the Nigerian Ports Authority established under the provi- sions of the Nigerian Ports Authority Act;

“port health officer” includes the registered medical practitioner appointed pursuant to regulation 6 of these Regulations;

“quarantinable disease” means cholera, plague, relapsing fever, smallpox, typhus or yellow fever;

“relapsing fever” means louse-borne relapsing fever;

“ship” means a sea-going or an inland navigation vessel making an international voy- age;

“surveillance” means that persons are not isolated, that they may move about freely, but that the health authorities of the places to which they are proceeding are notified of their coming; they may be subjected, in the places of arrival, to a medical examination and such enquiries as are necessary with a view to ascertaining their state of health, and may be required to report on arrival and afterwards at such intervals during continuance of surveillance as may be specified to the health officer of the city, town, district or place to which they proceed;

“suspect” means a person (not being an infected person) who is considered by the port health officer to have been exposed to infection by a quarantinable disease and to be capable of spreading the disease;

“suspected ship” means-

(a) a ship which has had on board during the voyage a case of cholera more than five days before arrival; or

(b) a ship which, not having on board on arrival, a case of human plague, has had on board during the voyage a case of that disease developed by the person within six days of his embarkation; or

(c) a ship which left within six days before arrival an area infected with yellow fever:

Provided that a ship to which the foregoing paragraph (a) or (b) applies shall not be deemed to be a suspected ship if in respect of such case of human cholera or plague, as the case may be, the ship has before arrival been subjected to appropriate measures equivalent to those provided for in these Regulations;

“typhus” means louse-borne typhus;

“valid” in relation to a Deratting Certificate or Deratting Exemption Certificate issued for a ship, means issued not more than six months before the production of the certificate to any port health officer, or if the ship is proceeding to an approved port or a designated approved port, not more than seven months before such production.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations a ship shall not be deemed to have been in an infected area if, without having itself been in contact with the shore, it has landed there only mail, passengers and baggage, or has taken on board there only mail, fuel, water or stores or passengers with or without baggage who have not themselves been in contact either with the shore or with any person from the shore.

(3) In these Regulations any reference to a regulation not otherwise identified is a reference to that regulation of these Regulations.

PART II

General

3. Inspection of ships

(1) The port health officer may, for the purposes of these Regulations, inspect any ship already in the port or on arrival.

(2) The port health officer shall inspect on arrival any ship in respect of which the master has sent to the health authority a message of notification under regulation 10, or any ship already in the district when he has reasonable grounds for believing that there is on board a case or suspected case of quarantinable disease.

(3) Any authorised officer may require a ship on arrival or already in the port to be brought to, and if necessary moored or anchored at, some safe and convenient place for the purpose of medical inspection.

4. Supply of information etc., by master

The master of a ship on arrival or already in port shall-

(a) answer all questions as to the health conditions on board which may be put to

him by an authorised officer visiting the ship, and furnish any such officer with all such information and assistance as he may reasonably require for the pur- poses of these Regulations;

(b) notify immediately to the port health officer any circumstances on board which are likely to lead to infection or the spread of quarantinable disease, including in his notification particulars as to the sanitary condition of the ship, the pres-

ence of dead rodents on the ship, or mortality or sickness among rodents on the ship;

(c) comply with these Regulations, and with any directions or requirements of an authorised officer given or made for the purposes of these Regulations.

5. Enforcement and execution of regulations in a State

The health administration of a State shall, when so required by the President, enforce and execute these Regulations and shall exercise their functions through the port health officer and such other officers as they may authorise in that behalf, and shall make such enquiries and take such other steps as seem to them necessary for securing the proper exercise of those functions.

6. Appointment and duties of authorised officers and provision of services

For the purposes of these Regulations, the health administration of a State shall, if so required by the President-

(a) appoint such registered medical practitioners as may be necessary for the proper enforcement and execution of these Regulations;

(b) give directions from time to time as to duties which are to be performed by any medical practitioner so appointed or any other officer authorised to enforce and execute these Regulations;

(c) arrange for the provision of-

(i) premises or waiting rooms for the medical inspection and examination of persons;

(ii) premises for the temporary isolation of persons in accordance with these Regulations;

(iii) apparatus or other means of cleansing, disinfecting or disinfecting ships, persons or clothing and other articles;

(d) arrange for the reception into hospital of persons requiring to be removed thereto pursuant to these Regulations;

(e) arrange for the provision of means of transport for the conveyance of persons

to any such premises as are referred to in paragraph (c) of this regulation, or to a hospital;

(f) do all such other things as in their opinion or the opinion of the President, as

the case may be, are necessary to enable the provisions of these Regulations to be complied with.

7. List of infected areas

(1) The port health officer for any port shall from time to time prepare and keep up- to-date a list of ports and other areas which are infected or believed to be infected with a quarantinable disease, or may serve other places or areas so infected or believed to be so infected.

(2) The port health officer shall supply copies of any such list and any amendment thereof to the pilots employed in the district.

PART III

Incoming ships

8. Declaration of approved and designated ports

The Minister may, by notice in the Federal Gazette declare any port in Nigeria to

be-

(a) an approved port;

(b) a designated approved port,

for the purpose of Article 17 of the International Sanitary Regulations.

9. Radio pratique

The port health officer may, when he is satisfied by information received by radio from a ship before arrival, or by any other information, that the arrival of the ship will not result in, nor contribute towards, the spread of infectious disease, transmit to the master by radio permission for the purpose of these Regulations for the ship to proceed direct to its intended place of mooring, discharge or loading.

10. Notification of infectious disease, etc., on board

(1) When there is on board a ship before arrival, a person who is suffering from an infectious disease or who has symptoms which may indicate the presence of an infectious disease, or when there are on board a ship before arrival, any other similar circumstances requiring the attention of the port health officer, the master shall-

(a) if the ship is equipped with a suitable radio transmitting apparatus and is due to arrive at an approved port or a designated approved port, send before arrival, either directly to the port health authority or through an agent approved by them, a radio message complying with paragraph (2) of this regulation;

(b) if the ship is not so equipped or is due to arrive elsewhere than at an approved port or a designated approved port, notify the port health authority, whenever practicable before arrival and otherwise immediately on arrival, of the pres- ence on board of such infectious disease, symptoms or other similar circum- stances.

(2) Any radio message sent for the purpose of this regulation shall-

(a) embody such of the items of information specified in the First Schedule to these Regulations as are applicable;

[First Schedule.]

(b) be sent so as to reach the port health authority not more than twelve hours, and wherever practicable not less than four hours before the expected time of arri- val of the ship;

(c) if it is in code, conform with the section relating to standard quarantine mes- sages of the 1931 International Code of Signals.

11. Signals

The master of every ship due to arrive in a port shall, unless he has already been granted radio pratique pursuant to regulation la of these Regulations, when the ship comes within the port comply with the provisions as to flags and signals set out in the Second Schedule to these Regulations:

[Second Schedule.]

Provided that this regulation shall not apply to any ship normally operating solely within Nigerian waters.

12. Maritime Declaration of Health

(l) On the arrival of a ship which during its voyage has been in a foreign port, the master shall complete a Maritime Declaration of Health in the form specified in the Third

Schedule to these Regulations and the declaration shall be countersigned by the ship’s surgeon if one is carried.

[Third Schedule.]

(2) The master shall deliver the declaration to the authorised officer who boards the ship, who shall forward it to the port health authority.

13. Restrictions on boarding or leaving ships

Until pratique has been granted by the port health officer in pursuance of these Regu- lations, no person other than a pilot, or an authorised officer, shall, without the permis- sion of the port health officer, board or leave the ship and the master shall take all steps necessary to secure compliance with this provision.

14. Deratting Certificates and Deratting Exemption Certificates

(1) If the master of a ship which during its voyage has been in a foreign port cannot on arrival produce to the port health officer a valid Deratting Certificate or Deratting Ex- emption Certificate the port health officer shall-

(a) if the port is an approved port or a designated approved port, require the ship

to be inspected to ascertain if the number of rodents on board is negligible; or

(b) if the port is not such a port, direct the ship to proceed at its own risk to the nearest approved port or designated approved port convenient to the ship.

(2) If, after the ship has been inspected, the port health officer is satisfied that the number of rodents on board, if any, is neglible, he shall issue a Deratting Exemption Cer- tificate in the form prescribed in the Fourth Schedule to these Regulations.

[Fourth Schedule.]

(3) If, after the ship has been inspected, the port health officer is not so satisfied, he shall-

(a) if the port is a designated approved port, require the ship to be deratted in the manner to be determined by him; or

(b) if the port is not a designated approved port, direct the ship to proceed at its

own risk to the nearest designated approved port convenient to the ship, for de- ratting and the master shall forthwith make arrangements for any deratting re- quired by the port health officer for the designated approved port.

(4) When deratting has been completed to the satisfaction of the appropriate port health officer, he shall issue a Deratting Certificate in the form prescribed in the Fourth Schedule to these Regulations.

[Fourth Schedule.]

(5) A copy of every Deratting Certificate or Deratting Exemption Certificate issued shall be retained in the office of the port health officer.

15. Detention and inspection of ships at mooring destinations

(1) Where the port health officer has reason to believe that a ship on arrival may be an infected ship, or a suspected ship, or any other ship in which there has been during the

current voyage and within the past four weeks before arrival a case of quarantinable disease

in respect of which pratique has not been granted at another port, he may direct the mas- ter to take the ship to a mooring station or such other place as he considers desirable.

(2) A ship which has been directed to a mooring station shall remain there until it has been inspected by the port health officer.

(3) The port health officer shall inspect any ship and the persons on board as soon as possible after it has been directed to a mooring station or after it has been detained under these Regulations.

(4) If after inspection the port health officer is satisfied that the ship is one to which he is required to apply any of the additional measures specified in the Fifth Schedule to these Regulations, he may detain the ship at the mooring station, or such other place as he considers desirable, or continue the detention, as the case maybe, for as long as is neces- sary for the application of such additional measures.

(5) The port health officer may require the master of a ship which has been directed to a mooring station or detained because plague-infected rodents have been discovered or suspected on board to take all practicable measures to prevent escape of rodents from the ship.

16. Detention and inspection of ships at other places

The port health officer may detain any ship for medical inspection at its mooring (not being a mooring station) or its place of discharge or loading and the detention of a ship under these Regulations shall cease as soon as the ship has been inspected by the port health officer or, if such inspection has not commenced within twelve hours after such detention, on the expiration of that period:

Provided that nothing in this regulation shall affect the power of the port health of- ficer to continue the detention of a ship in accordance with paragraph (4) of regulation 15 of these Regulations.

17. Examination and removal of infected persons from ships

(1) The port health officer may, and if so requested by the master shall, examine any person on board a ship on arrival or already in the district, when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting-

(a) that the person is suffering from an infectious disease or from tuberculosis;

(b) that the person has been exposed to infection from an infectious disease; or

(c) that the person is verminous.

(2) The port health officer may-

(a) detain any such person for examination either upon the ship or at some place on shore appointed for the purpose;

(b) require any person so examined to be disinfected, and the clothing and other articles belonging to him to be disinfected and, where necessary, disinfected;

(c) prohibit any person so examined from leaving the ship, or permit him to leave

it on such conditions and subject to the taking of such measures, pursuant to these Regulations, as the port health officer considers reasonably necessary for preventing the spread of infection; and

(d) require the master to take or assist in taking such steps as, in the opinion of the port health officer, are reasonably necessary for preventing the spread of and for the removal of conditions on the ship likely to convey infection, including conditions the existence of which might facilitate the harbouring of insects or vermin.

(3) Nothing in this regulation shall be deemed to authorise the use of a ship for the isolation of a person suffering from, or who has been exposed to infection by an infec- tious disease unless such isolation can be effected without delaying or unduly interfering with the movements of the ship.

18. Persons arriving in Nigeria to produce certificate of vaccination and inocula- tion

(1) Every person arriving by ship from outside Nigeria shall be in possession of a valid international certificate of vaccination against smallpox and of inoculation against yellow fever.

(2) An authorised officer may detain until the arrival of the port health officer or for three hours whichever is the shorter period, any person who is unable to produce any of the certificates referred to in paragraph (1) of this regulation.

(3) The port health officer may vaccinate or inoculate as the case may be, any person who is unable to produce any of the certificates referred to in paragraph (1) of this regu- lation and may issue to such person, the appropriate certificate on the payment of the fees specified in the Sixth Schedule to these Regulations.

[Sixth Schedule.]

19. Port health officer to require name and intended destination to be given in cer- tain cases

Where the Minister is satisfied that a grave danger to public health exists by reason of an outbreak of infectious disease and notifies the port health officer accordingly, the port health officer shall require a person disembarking from a ship in a port situated in an area where the outbreak occurs to state in writing his name and intended destination and ad- dress.

20. Additional measures

Without prejudice to any other provision of these Regulations, the additional meas- ures shall be applicable on the arrival of-

(a) any infected or suspected ships;

(b) any ship on which there is a case of typhus or relapsing fever;

(c) any ship which has during its voyage been in a local area infected with cholera, plague or yellow fever;

(d) any suspect for smallpox on a ship other than an infected ship;

(e) any person on any ship which has come from an area infected with typhus or relapsing fever;

(f) any ship or any person on board, when the port health officer is satisfied that, notwithstanding the application of sanitary measures to that ship or person at a

previous port, an incident has occurred since such previous application which makes it necessary again to apply additional measures, or when the medical of- ficer has definite evidence that the previous measures applied were not sub- stantiallyeffective.

PART IV

Outgoing ships

21. Examination, etc., of persons proposing to embark

Where a ship is due to depart for a foreign port the port health officer may examine any person proposing to embark and-

(a) if he has reasonable grounds for believing that any such person is suffering from a quarantinable disease may prohibit such person from embarking:

Provided that in the case of smallpox a person shall not be prohibited from em- barking if he satisfies the port health officer that he is sufficiently protected by vaccina- tion and carries a valid international certificate of vaccination against smallpox;

(b) shall notify the master of the ship of any person embarking who in the opinion of the port health officer should be placed under surveillance;

(c) shall prohibit any person who is not in possession of a valid certificate of in- oculation against yellow fever from embarking;

(d) may vaccinate or inoculate any person who is not in possession of the appro- priate certificate of vaccination or inoculation as the case may be on the pay- ment of the fees prescribed in the Sixth Schedule to these Regulations.

[Sixth Schedule.]

22. Infected local area in Nigeria

When the Minister has in the Federal Gazette declared any local area in Nigeria to be infected with a quarantinable disease, the following provisions shall operate in relation to any ship departing from any port specified by the Minister to any other port either within or outside Nigeria-

(a) the port health officer may and if so requested by the master shall examine any person who proposes to embark or is already on board the ship;

(b) the port health officer may require any part of a ship which is infected to be disinfected to his satisfaction;

(c) an authorised officer shall inspect any clothing, bedding or any person on the ship and which, in the opinion of the officer, may have been exposed to any in- fection and may require the disinfection or destruction of any such clothing, bedding or article, and the master shall disclose to the authorised officer any relevant circumstances;

(d) no person shall take or cause to be taken on board the ship any article which, in the opinion of the authorised officer, is capable of carrying infection unless that officer is satisfied that that article has been disinfected and, where neces- sary, disinfected;

(e) if the port from which the ship is leaving has been declared to be infected with plague, and if there is reason to believe that there are rodents on the ship, the port health officer shall cause the ship to be deratted or direct it to proceed to the nearest designated approved port convenient to the ship for deratting.

23. Surveillance

PART V

Miscellaneous

(1) Where these Regulations permit a port health officer to place a person under sur- veillance, the period of such surveillance shall not exceed such of the following periods as may be appropriate-

(a) in respect of cholera-five days;

(b) in respect of plague-six days;

(c) in respect of relapsing fever-eight days;

(d) in respect of smallpox-fourteen days;

(e) in respect of typhus-fourteen days;

(f) in respect of yellow fever-six days.

(2) When a person has been placed under surveillance for cholera, plague or small- pox by reason of his having come from an infected area the period shall be reckoned from the date of his leaving the infected area.

(3) When a person has been placed under surveillance pursuant to the additional measures, the period shall be reckoned in the manner therein specified.

(4) Every person who is placed under surveillance pursuant to these Regulations shall-

(a) give facilities for any medical examination required by the port health officer or the medical officer of health for any area in which he may be for the period of surveillance;

(b) furnish all such information as the port health officer or medical officer of health may reasonably require with a view to ascertaining his state of health;

(c) forthwith upon arrival during the period of surveillance at any address other

than the one stated as his intended destination when placed under surveillance send particulars of that address to the port health officer;

(d) if so instructed by the port health officer, report immediately to the medical officer of health for any area in which he may be during the period of surveil- lance, and thereafter during that period continue to report to that officer at such interval as he may require.

24. Charges for services

(1) Where the master of a ship in a report is required by these Regulations to carry out any measures to reduce the danger or prevent the spread of infection, the port health authority may at the request of the master, and, if they think fit, at his cost, cause any

such requirement to be complied with instead of enforcing the requirement against the master.

(2) Where under this regulation the port health authority causes any requirement to be complied with at the cost if the master, the amount of the charge for any such work will be in accordance with the scale of charges set out in the Eighth Schedule to these Regulations; and the port health authority may if they think fit, require the amount of the charge for the work or a part thereof to be paid to or be deposited with them before the work is undertaken.

[Eighth Schedule.]

(3) Where, pursuant to these Regulations, any measures have been taken with regard to any person or to any article in his possession, the medical officer shall on request by such persons, furnish him free of charge with particulars in writing of those measures, including the date on which they were taken.

(4) Where, pursuant to these Regulations, any measures have been taken with regard to a ship, the health authority or the medical officer shall, on request by the master, fur- nish him free of charge with particulars in writing of those measures, including the date on which they were taken.

(5) The fees set out in the Eighth Schedule to these Regulations shall be paid in cases to which they are applicable.

25. Savings for mails

(1) Nothing in these Regulations shall permit the application of any sanitary measure to letters, newspapers, books and other printed matter, which are part of any mail.

(2) Postal parcels may only be subjected to sanitary measure if they contain-

(a) any of the goods referred to in the Fifth Schedule which the port health authority has reason to believe come from a cholera infected local area; or

[Fifth Schedule.]

(b) linen, wearing apparel or bedding which has been used or soiled and to which the provisions of the Fifth Schedule are applicable.

26. Savings for ships

(1) The master of a ship in a port, who is unwilling to submit to any sanitary measure required by the port health officer in accordance with these Regulations, shall so notify the port health officer who may then require the master to remove the ship immediately from the port.

(2) If before leaving the port the master wishes to discharge cargo or disembark pas- sengers or to take on board fuel, water or stores, the port health officer shall permit him to do so but the port health officer may impose such conditions pursuant to these Regula- tions as he considers necessary.

(3) When the port health officer has required removal of a ship from a port in Nigeria, it shall not during its voyage call at any other port in Nigeria.

27. Sanitation in port areas

(1) It shall be the duty of the port health officer to supervise and ensure that the port areas are kept in a satisfactory sanitary condition, and for this purpose may-

(a) inspect or cause to be inspected any article of food in the port area (whether such food is imported or for export) and may issue or cause to be issued a de- struction notice in the form specified in the Seventh Schedule in respect of any article of food found contaminated;

[Seventh Schedule.]

(b) inspect or cause to be inspected all food canteens in the port area to ensure that they are in sanitary condition and that all food handlers are periodically ex- amined and found medically fit;

(c) notify the port authority of the presence of rodents and pests and require the port authority to take steps to remove the pests and rodents.

(2) The port health officer may issue an abatement notice in the form specified in the Seventh Schedule on the port authority to abate any nuisance in its port area which may in the opinion of the port health officer endanger health or give rise to infection, and it shall be the duty of the port authority to comply with the notice.

[Seventh Schedule.]

28. Offences, penalty and proceedings

(1) Any person who-

(a) fails to comply with a condemnation notice issued pursuant to regula- tion 27 (1) of these Regulations; or

(b) fails to comply with an abatement notice issued pursuant to regulation 27 (2) of these Regulations; or

(c) contravenes any of the provisions of these Regulations or fails to comply with any direction given by the port health officer under these Regulations,

shall be liable on conviction to a fine of N1 00 or to imprisonment for six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) Proceedings for imposing any fine or imprisonment under these Regulations or for recovering any expenses incurred or charged by the Government in carrying out the provisions of these Regulations may be commenced and determined by any magistrate.

SCHEDULES FIRST SCHEDULE

[Regulation 10.]

Radio messages-items of information

ITEM 1

The following is an International Quarantine Message from .

(name of ship)

.

F[RIFeTguHlaStiCoHnsE2DaUnLdE20.]

Additional measures- quarantinable diseases

PART I

Cholera

A. Infected ships and suspected ships

(1) The port health officer may-

(a) place under surveillance any person who disembarks, the period of surveillance being reckoned from the date of arrival of the ship;

(b) require the disinfection of the baggage of any infected person or suspect, and of

any other article on board and any part of the ship which the medical officer considers to be contaminated;

(c) require the disinfection and removal of any water on board which he considers

to be contaminated and the disinfection of the containers which have held such

water.

(2) The port health officer shall prohibit the discharge or unloading from the ship of human dejecta, bilge water and any other waste matter or water, which may be contaminated and has not been disinfected.

B. Ships which have been in infected areas

(3) The port health officer may place under surveillance any person who disembarks, the period of surveillance being reckoned from the date of the departure of the ship from the in- fected area.

C. Infected ships, suspected ships, and ships which have been in infected areas

(4) In addition to any measures permitted or required by the preceding provisions in this Part, the port health officer may prohibit the unloading of, or may remove from the ship, any fish, shellfish, fruit or vegetable to be eaten uncooked, or beverage, not forming part of cargo in a hold of the ship, which he considers to be contaminated, and if any such food or beverage is so removed, he shall arrange for its safe disposal.

(5) If any of the said food or beverage forms part of cargo in a hold of the ship and is so contaminated, the port health officer for the port in which such cargo is due to be discharged shall arrange for its safe disposal.

PART II

Plague

A. Infected ships and suspected ships

(1) The port health officer may-

(a) require any suspect on board to be disinsected and place him under surveil-

lance, the period of surveillance being reckoned from the date of arrival of the ship;

(b) require the disinsecting and, if necessary, disinfection of the baggage of any infected person or suspect, and of any other article on board and any part of the ship which the medical officer considers to be contaminated.

(2) If there is rodent plague on board, the port health officer shall require the ship to be deratted in a manner to be determined by him, but without prejudice to the generality of this requirement, the following special provisions shall apply to any such deratting-

(a) the deratting shall be carried out as soon as the holds have been emptied;

(b) one or more preliminary derattings of a ship with the cargo in situ, or during its unloading, may be carried out to prevent the escape of infected rodents;

(c) if the complete destruction of rodents cannot be secured because only part of

the cargo is due to be unloaded, a ship shall not be prevented from unloading that part, but the medical officer may apply any measure which he considers necessary to prevent the escape of infected rodents.

B. Ships which have been in infected areas

(3) The port health officer may-

(a) place under surveillance any suspect who disembarks, the period of surveil-

lance being reckoned from the date of the departure of the ship from the in- fected area;

(b) require the destruction of rodents on the ship if he considers the circumstances

so exceptional as to justify such a requirement, but he shall communicate in writing to the master of the ship his reasons for the requirement.

PART III

Smallpox

A. Infected ships

(1) The port health officer shall offer vaccination to any person on board who he consid- ers is not sufficiently protected against smallpox.

(2) The port health officer may either-

(a) place under surveillance any person who disembarks, the period of surveillance being reckoned from the date on which the port health officer considers the person was last exposed to infection; or

(b) if he considers any such person not to be sufficiently protected against small- pox, isolate him for a similar period.

(3) The port health officer shall require disinfection of the baggage of any infected per- son, and of any other article on board and any part of the ship which the port health officer considers to be contaminated.

B. Suspects on other ships

(4) The port health officer may also apply the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Part to any suspect who disembarks from a ship which is not an infected ship.

Relapsing fever and typhus

A. Ships with infected persons on board

(1) The port health officer may require-

(a) any suspect on board to be disinsected;

(b) the disinsecting and, if necessary, disinfection of the accommodation occupied by any infected person or suspect, his clothes and baggage, and any other arti- cle which the medical officer considers may spread typhus or relapsing fever.