While various forms of disrespect for the national symbols of Montenegro often raise media dust on land, and legal measures are taken against violators, so far little has been done to ensure compliance with the legal provisions regarding the display of the Montenegrin national flag at sea.
Thus, the "Vijesti" reporter yesterday, while walking along the operational coast of the largest and most exclusive marina of ours - Tivat's Porto Montenegro, out of about 150 yachts that happened to be in that port, found as many as 12 of them that were in explicit violation.
We are talking about foreign yachts that do not, by law, display a small national flag of Montenegro on the right side of the main mast as mandatory, because they are in the territorial waters of our country. On this occasion, we didn't even count the ships on which the dirty, torn or faded Montenegrin flag was displayed beyond recognition from the sun and salt...
The international obligation to display the small flag of the country whose territorial waters are being navigated applies to all foreign civilian and warships that enter the territorial sea of another country and lasts until that ship leaves foreign waters. The obligation to display the small national flag of Montenegro on the right side of the main mast is explicitly stipulated in our legal regulations for all foreign vessels that are in Montenegrin waters, and the fines for those who do not do this on paper range up to two hundred times the minimum price of work in to the state.
Only there is no Montenegrin one, Photo: Siniša Luković
Although they are located literally a hundred meters away from the Border Police outpost on pier III of Porto Montenegro, in that marina it is possible to find foreign yachts that do not have the Montenegrin flag properly displayed, even some ships that do not even display the flag of their own country.
"Officials of the border maritime police, in accordance with the rulebook on the manner of monitoring the state border, check whether the flag is hoisted during navigation. If the flag is not hoisted, the captains of the vessels are warned to hoist the flag, in accordance with legal regulations. The implementation of the penal provisions provided by law, in cases of failure to display the Montenegrin flag on a vessel, especially for foreign ships that have been granted free traffic along the coast, is not within the competence of the Police Directorate", the Police Directorate answered "News" to the question why the Maritime Border Police allows the entry and retention in our marinas of foreign yachts that do not respect the regulations on displaying the Montenegrin flag on the right side of the main mast.
The Police Directorate notes that "the use of the Montenegrin flag for foreign vessels is regulated by the regulation on maintaining order in ports, which is supervised by the competent port authorities".
What does the Border Police do?
Interestingly, "under the nose" of the Border Police in Porto Montenegro yesterday, the motor yacht "Beachseeker" was tied up on the "G" pontoon of the marina, registered in the port of Kinstown and belonging to the state of Jamaica.
Beachseeker with Croatian flag
On the right side of her main mast, in the place where by law it should be Montenegrin, a small Croatian flag flies. An even more drastic case of violation of the regulations is right next to it - the big sailboat "Amity" which does not even have a national flag displayed, let alone the flag of Montenegro in whose waters it is.
The same is the case with the motor yacht "Lavendel" at pier IV of Porto Montenegro, and the highlight is, however, the British motor yacht "Nightflower", registered in London, on whose main mast a small Montenegrin sails, but they are there, "just in case ”, and the flags of Italy and the USA.
The law is clear
Article 29 paragraph 16 of the regulation on maintaining order in ports and other parts of the coastal sea and inland waterways ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro", No. 41/06 of 30.06.2006) states that "it is prohibited on a foreign vessel, i.e. a vessel , during his stay in the port, not to fly the flag of his national affiliation, as well as the flag of our country".
Failure to comply with that provision is threatened with a fine of ten to two hundred times the minimum labor price in Montenegro. Translated to yesterday's case from Porto Montenegro, this means that if the members of the Maritime Police and the Port Authority had visited the Tivat marina yesterday and consistently applied the law, a minimum of 19.400, or as much as 384.000 euros of maximum fines would have flowed into the state budget from the owners of foreign vessels that violate the regulations on displaying the flag. For that money, some Montenegrin school or kindergarten could welcome the children who will enter it at the beginning of the school year in a much nicer condition in a few days...
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