How long is a Certificate of Survey valid, and what happens if it lapses?
A Certificate of Survey is generally required to operate as a commercial vessel in Australia, and it is normally valid for five years. AMSA sends a renewal reminder about 90 days before it expires.
It is an offence to operate a vessel in breach of a condition on its Certificate of Survey. If the certificate lapses, you must stop operating until it is renewed, unless you are granted temporary operation under an exemption.
Some vessels are exempt from survey: for example certain small sheltered-water, human-powered, small-sailing and recreational-training vessels. Recreational vessels sit outside the domestic-commercial-vessel regime altogether.
The Purser pulls the validity period, the 90-day reminder and the lapse rule straight from the AMSA survey page, with the clause and the date it was checked. On your boat it tracks your own certificate’s expiry against that five-year window.
General information for Australian operators, current as of 2026-05-30. Rules change and recreational rules vary by state. Always confirm against the source(s) linked above (your AMSA, Australian Sailing or state maritime authority). This is not legal advice.