Circular 66/2025/TT-BXD technical safety and environmental protection requirements for floating hotels

CIRCULAR

Regulating technical safety and environmental protection requirements for overnight cruise vessels, floating restaurants and floating hotels

Pursuant to the Law on Inland Waterway Navigation No. 23/2004/QH11, amended and supplemented under the Law on Inland Waterway Navigation No. 48/2014/QH13;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 33/2025/ND-CP dated February 25, 2025, defining the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

At the proposal of the Director General of the Vietnam Register;

The Minister of Construction hereby promulgates the Circular regulating the technical safety and environmental protection requirements for overnight cruise vessels, floating restaurants and floating hotels.

Article 1. Scope of regulation

1. This Circular regulates the technical safety and environmental protection requirements for overnight cruise vessels, floating restaurants and floating hotels operating on inland waterways.

2. This Circular does not apply to floating restaurants with submerged structures in the form of rafts that are manually connected.

Article 2. Subjects of application

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals involved with overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

For the purposes of this Circular, overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants are defined in sub-sections 1.4.23, 1.4.24, and 1.4.25 of Section I of QCVN 72:2025/BGTVT - National Technical Regulation on Classification and Construction of Inland-Waterway Ships (hereinafter referred to as QCVN 72:2025/BGTVT).

Article 4. Technical safety requirements

1. Overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants must be constructed from steel, aluminum, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, wood, steel mesh concrete, or reinforced concrete and must comply with QCVN 72:2025/BGTVT and the corresponding technical regulations applicable to the vessels.

2. New construction of overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants from wood or conversion of wooden vessels intended for other uses into overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, or floating restaurants is prohibited.

3. Public address systems, in addition to announcements in Vietnamese, must have the capability to make announcements in English (if there are international guests).

4. Walkways on overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants must have directional lighting or luminous indicators to guide guests to emergency exits in all situations.

5. Doors placed on escape routes must be designed for immediate opening without the need for a key or any other assistance tool.

6. The captain is responsible for assigning crew members to patrol and monitor the passenger areas and the condition of the vessel during its operation. Patrols and monitoring must be conducted at least once per hour and fully recorded in the ship's logbook.

7. The captain must organize regular drills for using life-saving equipment and emergency evacuation procedures for the crew at least every six months, with complete records in the ship's logbook, including photographs.

Article 5. Environmental protection requirements

1. Overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants must comply with regulations regarding the discharge of waste and oil-contaminated water as specified in the National Technical Regulation on Rules for Pollution Prevention of Inland Waterway Ships, Amendment No. 2:2016 QCVN 17:2011/BGTVT.

2. In addition to the regulations in Clause 1 of this Article, the installation of pollution prevention equipment on overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants must comply with the following requirements:

a) Oil pollution prevention equipment:

Overnight cruise vessels with diesel engines, whether primary or auxiliary, with a total power greater than 220 kW must be equipped with a 15 parts-per-million oil-water separator and an oily water separator tank. The oil-water separator must ensure that any oil-water mixture passing through the filtration system contains no more than 15 parts per million of oil. The oil-water separator must have approved designs and be tested during construction, installation, and operation.

b) Wastewater pollution prevention equipment:

Overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants must be equipped with wastewater treatment devices or tanks for wastewater storage to be transferred to a reception point for treatment. Wastewater treatment devices must meet the National Technical Regulation on Domestic Wastewater and have approved designs, tested during construction, installation, and operation.

c) Waste pollution prevention equipment:

Overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants must be equipped with waste containment devices to transfer waste to reception points.

Article 6. Responsibilities for implementation

The Vietnam Register is responsible for organizing the implementation of this Circular.

Article 7. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect from February 15, 2026.

2. The provisions of Circular No. 43/2012/TT-BGTVT dated October 23, 2012, of the Minister of Transport, regulating the technical safety and environmental protection requirements for overnight cruise vessels, floating hotels, and floating restaurants are hereby annulled./.

For the Minister

Deputy Minister

NGUYEN XUAN SANG