76. Section 72 of the Act of 1996 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)(b)—

(i) by the substitution of “the person is, at the time of the making of the application—” for “the person is—”,

(ii) by the deletion, in subparagraph (i), of “subsisting”, and

(iii) by the deletion, in subparagraph (ii), of “subsisting”,

(b) in subsection (1)(c), by the substitution of “the person is, at the time of the making of the application, the holder of a certificate of competency which—” for “the person is the holder of a subsisting certificate of competency which—”,

(c) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “3 years” for “1 year”, and

(d) in subsection (4), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) A company which has granted a pilotage exemption certificate under subsection (1) may, in accordance with any bye-laws made by it under section 71 relating to renewal of such certificates, renew it and, for this purpose—

(i) a reference to an application under subsection (1) includes an application for renewal, and

(ii) such an application may be made at any time prior to the expiration of the pilotage exemption certificate.”.