The Ministry of Trade and Industry is responsible for all Maritime Administration in the Faroe Island.

The Maritime Administration in the Faroe Islands consists of two agencies, the Ship Registry (Skipaskráseting Føroya), which takes care of registration of all boats and ships in the Faroe Islands and The Faroese Maritime Authority (Skipaeftirlitið) www.fma.fo which takes care of all administrative matters regarding safety, inspection of ships, technical legal framework for ships, certification of ships, and the certification of ship’s manning.

The Faroese Maritime Authority has “Class Agreements” with three classification societies, Det Norske Veritas, Bureau Veritas, and Lloyd’s Register. These three Classification societies are permitted to carry out statutory surveys and certification on behalf of the Faroese Maritime Authority.

The Faroe Islands do have an International Ship Registry (FAS). Cargo vessels 100 GT or more may be registered in the FAS. Vessels that are registered in the FAS do have to comply with all relevant international conventions such as the Convention on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships 1969 (ITC 69), The International Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 78 as amended in 1995
(STCW), etc.

Fishing vessels, 15 meters or more that are registered on the Faroe Islands do have to comply with the technical regulations as set out in “Meddelelser E” from the Danish Maritime Authority.

Meddelelser E are based on the Torremolinos Convention, on EU requirements and on local Danish requirements as deemed necessary in order to improve safety, health, and environment on Danish registered fishing vessels. There is also a technical legal framework for vessels less than 15 meters. The Faroe Islands do hold an associated membership of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). As such the Faroe Islands participates in conferences and meetings in the IMO.

The Faroe Islands is a member of  the International Labour Organisation (ILO) via Denmark and participates in meetings in the ILO as part of the Danish delegation.

Three instutions offer maritime education in the Faroe Islands.
The Safety Centre (Trygdarmiðstøðin) www.seasafe.fo takes care of safety training and offers the following courses, Basic Sea Survival STCW A-VI/1, Coxswain’s Course STCW A-VI/2, and Fast Rescue Craft Course STCW A-VI/2-2. The Safety centre does also offer other courses that are based on regional demands and requirements.

Klaksvik Seafarer’s school (Klaksvíkar Sjómansskúli) does offer general education for seafarer’s (ab’s) STCW I/1. Further Klaksvik Seafarer’s school offers education as Master STCW A-II/1 STCW A-II/3 up to 2999 GT. Ship’s cook education is also offered.

Center for Maritime Studies and Engineering (Vinnuháskúlin) consists of three units.