What changed in Marine Order 504 on 1 June 2025?
The revised Marine Order 504 (Certificates of operation – national law) 2024 came into effect on 1 June 2025. It governs both the application requirements for a Certificate of Operation and the Safety Management System (SMS) requirements for domestic commercial vessels, and it applies to owners, operators, masters and crew alike.
Your SMS must be built on a risk assessment of your operation and document a defined set of elements: among them a fatigue-management plan, a drug & alcohol policy, operational and emergency procedures, statements of master and designated-person responsibility, a stability risk assessment, a record of vessel modifications, and an assembly station.
Requirements are tiered: a simplified SMS is available for some eligible vessels under 7.5 m, and hire-and-drive (Class 4) operations have their own differentiated requirements. Every DCV owner or operator is required by law to implement and maintain an SMS, including grandfathered and certificate-exempt vessels.
The Purser cites the AMSA primary pages for MO 504 and lists only the documented SMS elements, with no interpretation beyond the source. On your boat it checks your SMS against that list and flags any element it can’t find.
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.