BBC Transport Correspondent Simon Montague: New regulations from European Parliament are broadly supported

From 1 January 1999 details of the number of passengers on board ships must be recorded for search and rescue purposes.

And exactly one year afterwards ships will have to record the name, age and sex of passengers.

The Zeebrugge tragedy, in which the Herald of Free Enterprise overturned and 200 people died, and the sinking of the Estonia in 1994, in which more than 850 died, raised major concerns about the safety of cross-channel ferries.

More than 850 people died in the Estonia disaster

The new regulations, which have come from the European Parliament and the International Maritime Organisation, sparked complaints earlier this year that struggling ferry companies' profits would be hit.

Conservative MP for North Thanet, Kent, Roger Gale, said the extra paperwork would also cause long delays for passengers and called for the regulations to be scrapped.

But East Kent Labour MEP Mark Watts, who has been among those who have campaigned for the new regulations, said: "I am delighted that the hard work has paid off and that in the event of any accident, the rescue services will now know who they are looking for, and how many people."

Transport Correspondent Simon Montague: New rules will help rescuers in case of an accident

There was confusion about passenger numbers after the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry tragedy at Zeebrugge.

However, it was not until the 1994 Estonia ferry disaster that IMO proposals about passenger information were formulated.