6. The Principal Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 36:

“Return of employment contributions in respect of certain seafarers

36. (1) The Minister may, on application made to him or her in that behalf, return to an employer any employment contribution paid in accordance with section 13(2) (d) in respect of the employment of a qualifying seafarer in respect of such period as may be prescribed.

(2) An application under subsection (1) shall be made—

(a) in the manner,

(b) to such persons,

(c) by a specified day or within a specified period, and

(d) in such form,

as may be prescribed.

(3) In this section—

‘qualifying seafarer’ means a master or seaman, within the meaning of section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, who is employed by a ship owner to work on board a qualifying ship during a period in which that ship is at sea, where that person—

(a) in the case where he or she is working on board a vessel (including a sea-going passenger vessel with facilities to enable road or rail vehicles to roll on or off the vessel and carrying more than 12 passengers) providing scheduled passenger services between ports of the European Economic Area, is a citizen of a member state of the European Economic Area, or

(b) in any other case, is liable to taxation or social security contributions, or both of them, in a member state of the European Economic Area;

‘qualifying ship’ means a sea-going vessel which is—

(a) registered in the shipping register of a member state of the European Economic Area,

(b) not less than 100 tons gross tonnage, and

(c) self-propelled,

but does not include—

(i) a fishing vessel, tug or vessel used primarily as a floating platform for working machinery or as a diving platform, as may be prescribed, or

(ii) such other vessel of a type that is not normally used for the purposes of the activities specified in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (e) or (f) of the definition of ‘qualifying shipping activities’ contained in section 407(1) of the Act of 1997.”.