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Page 31

U S. President signs bill to increase safety of cruise ship passengers

In response to a series of high-profile sexual assaults and disappearances on cruise ships in recent years, President Obama, on July 27, signed into law tougher new rules for reporting crimes at sea, improving ship safety and training ship staff on how to collect accurate assault evidence. Critics have long taken to task the $40-billion cruise line industry; they point out that cruise ships registered in foreign countries have taken advantage of murky lines of jurisdiction to ignore the responsibility for misdeeds that occur on their ships in international waters. The bill, inter alia, requires cruise lines to raise the minimum height of railings from 42 to 54 inches; to install peepholes on passenger stateroom doors and crew members' quarters as well as add on-deck surveillance cameras, among other safety improvements. It also mandates that cruise personnel to contact both the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard as soon as passengers report such serious crimes as...