自動運航船の研究開発の進展と日本の海事公法規制

The Development of Autonomous Ships and the Japanese Admiralty Law

本稿は、海外及び日本における自動運航船の研究開発の動向を紹介した上で、日本の海事公法規制との関係を素描するものである。現在、自動運航船（Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship; MASS）に関する研究開発が世界的に進められており、日本でも、日本財団によるMEGURI2040プロジェクトに参加した複数のコンソーシアムによる研究開発が推し進められている。このような自動運航船が開発される一方で、現行の海事公法規制と抵触するのではないかとの懸念もある。自動運航船には、人が乗船しない遠隔操縦船、人が乗船するものの操船はAI等による半自律操縦船、そして、完全無人の完全自律操縦船がある。それぞれの自動運航船と現行の海事公法規制、特に、船舶というハード面に関する規制である、船舶法、船舶安全法と、船員というソフト面に関する規制である、船員法、船舶職員及び小型操縦者法、そして、海上交通法規（海上衝突予防法、海上交通安全法及び港則法）との関係を論じる。また、本稿では、自動運航船に関する国土交通省のガイドラインを示したうえで、自動運航船に向けた船舶等の安全性の確保への取り組みを紹介するものである。

Nowadays, the development of autonomous ships has become a much-discussed topic globally. For example, it is reported that Rolls-Royce is researching autonomous vessels in Europe. In Japan, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MLIT) has planned projects with major Japanese operators such as Nihon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Shosen Mitsui (MOL) to examine the safety requirements that are necessary for realizing autonomous ships. In addition, Japan Coast Guard has already introduced remote control ship for the sake of investigating some undersea volcanos, and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT) is researching the remotely control ship system using Wi-Fi communication. This paper deals with the legal issues concerning autonomous ships in Japanese Admiralty law and public regulations. This article introduces and considers some guidelines enacted by the MLIT, especially the Japanese administrative rules for ships and the relationship with autonomous ships. Japan also has many administrative laws concerning the ships themselves and the qualifications of a crew. These regulations are based on manned ships or ships navigated by a human. In other words, those would not translate to unmanned ships or autonomous ships. Therefore, this causes a few problems about the relationship between the regulations for ships and unmanned ships in the maritime conventions and the national laws. For example, firstly, the STCW has a lot of articles concerning the equipment of ships. Thus, it seems that the convention would apply to the ships’ equipment despite Article 2. In fact, a few researchers suggest that the STCW also applies to unmanned ships. But if so, it may be thought if some regulations on the ship's equipment regarding crew are meaningless in unmanned ships. Secondly, it must be considered if it is too tricky for unmanned ships, especially the full autonomous ships, to be responsible based on rule 2(a) of the convention. This rule is written about good seamanship. It is unclear if the rule would apply to unmanned ships, or not due to the fact that unmanned ships have no crew on board. Thirdly, the convention about maritime labour does not apply to unmanned ships because those ships have no crew who work onboard. However, it has a possibility that the Seafarers Act in Japan might apply to unmanned ships. Because the Act applies basically to the “Japanese ships,” not but the seafarers. In conclusion, the appearance of unmanned ships and autonomous ships will possibly change the laws in the future. At least, current laws weren’t made to compensate for their use. For responding to this situation, the Japanese government enacts some regulations and guidelines about autonomous ships.