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25 1956

OIL POLLUTION OF THE SEA ACT, 1956

PART II.

Prevention of Oil Pollution of the Sea.

Prohibited zones.

9. —(1) Subject to subsection (3), the sea areas specified in Parts I and III of the Schedule shall be prohibited zones for tankers.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the sea areas specified in Parts II and IV of the Schedule shall be prohibited zones for ships other than tankers.

(3) The Minister may by order extend or reduce any prohibited zone or declare any specified sea area to be a prohibited zone for tankers or for other ships for the purpose of giving effect to any variation of sea areas in accordance with the Convention of 1954 or of implementing any subsequent Convention or of protecting the coasts of the State, and amend any order under this subsection.

Discharge of oil in prohibited zones.

10. —(1) This section applies to crude oil, fuel oil and lubricating oil.

(2) This section shall also apply to any heavy diesel oil or other description of oil which may be prescribed.

(3) The owner and also the master of any ship registered in the State which discharges into a prohibited zone for that ship any oil to which this section applies or any mixture containing such oil, the oil in which fouls the surface of the sea, shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) For this purpose, the oil in any oily mixture of less than one hundred parts of oil in one million parts of the mixture shall be deemed not to foul the surface of the sea.

(5) The Minister may prescribe exceptions to subsection (3), either absolutely or on specified conditions, and either generally or for specified classes of ships, or in relation to particular descriptions of oil or oily mixtures, or to their discharge in specified circumstances, or in relation to particular sea areas.

Discharge of oil into territorial seas and inland waters.

11. —(1) If any oil or oily mixture is discharged (directly or indirectly) into the territorial seas of the State or into its inland waters navigable by sea-going vessels, then, if the discharge is—

(a) from a vessel, the owner and also the master of the vessel,

(b) from a place on land, the occupier of that place,

(c) from apparatus for transferring oil to or from a vessel, the person in charge of the apparatus,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A harbour master may specify a place where the ballast water of a vessel in which a cargo of petroleum spirit has been carried may be discharged into the waters of the harbour at such times and on such conditions as he may direct. The discharge of ballast water containing no oil other than petroleum spirit in accordance with such directions shall not be an offence.

Saver for discharge in special circumstances.

12. —(1) Sections 10 and 11 shall not apply to—

(a) the discharge of oil or of an oily mixture from a vessel for the purpose of securing the safety of the vessel, preventing damage to the vessel or her cargo, or saving life, if such discharge was necessary and reasonable in the circumstances, or

(b) the escape of oil or of an oily mixture from a vessel, resulting from damage to the vessel or from any leakage, not due to any want of reasonable care, if all reasonable precautions have been taken after the occurrence of the damage or discovery of the leakage for the purpose of preventing or minimising the escape.

(2) Section 11 shall not apply to the escape of oil or of an oily mixture from any place or apparatus, if the escape was not due to any want of reasonable care and if all reasonable steps have been taken after the discovery of the escape for the purpose of stopping or minimising it.

(3) Section 11 shall not apply to the discharge from any place of an effluent produced by operations for the refining of oil, if—

(a) it was not reasonably practicable to dispose of the effluent otherwise than by so discharging it, and

(b) all reasonably practicable steps had been taken for eliminating oil from the effluent, and

(c) in the event of the surface of the waters into which the mixture was discharged, or land adjacent to those waters, being fouled by oil at the time of the discharge, it is shown that the fouling was not caused or contributed to by oil contained in any effluent discharged at or before that time from that place.

Harbour facilities for disposal of oily residue.

13. —(1) A harbour authority may provide, or cause to be provided, facilities for the discharge of oily residue from vessels using the harbour and arrange for its disposal.

(2) Whenever the Minister, after consultation with the harbour authority and with any organisation appearing to him to be representative of owners of ships registered in the State, is of opinion that such facilities or arrangements are necessary at a particular harbour, or that the existing facilities are inadequate, he may require the harbour authority to make such provision, and within such time, as he may consider necessary and may extend the time for complying with any such requirement.

(3) A harbour authority shall not be obliged to make any facilities provided under this section available for tankers or for the discharge of oily residues for the purpose of enabling a vessel to undergo repairs or to allow the disposal of residue from which the water has not been effectively separated but, subject thereto, the facilities shall be available for all vessels using the harbour.

(4) A harbour authority, or any person by arrangement with a harbour authority, providing facilities for vessels in accordance with this section may make reasonable charges, and impose reasonable conditions, for the use of the facilities.

Report of discharge into harbours.

14. —(1) If any oil or oily mixture—

(a) is discharged from a vessel into the waters of a harbour for the purpose of securing the safety of the vessel, preventing damage to the vessel or her cargo, or saving life, or

(b) is found to be escaping or to have escaped into such waters from a vessel as a result of damage to the vessel or leakage, or from any place on land,

the owner and the master of the vessel, or the occupier of the place, as the case may be, shall forthwith report the fact and cause of the occurrence to the harbour master.

(2) A person who fails to comply with subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Transfer of oil at night.

15. —(1) No oil shall be transferred between sunset and sunrise to or from a vessel in a harbour unless notice has previously been given in accordance with this section to the harbour master.

(2) Notice shall be given not less than three and not more than ninety-six hours before the transfer of oil begins but, where transfers are frequently carried out at a particular place, a general notice to that effect, covering a period of not more than twelve months from the date of the notice, shall suffice.

(3) If any oil is transferred to or from a vessel in contravention of this section the master of the vessel, and, if the transfer is from or to a place on land, also, the occupier, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(4) This section shall not apply to the transfer of oil by or on the direction of the harbour master or the officer in charge of a fire brigade in the event of a fire.

Equipment of ships to prevent pollution by oil.

16. —(1) The Minister may make regulations requiring ships registered in the State to be so fitted, and to comply with such requirements, as to prevent or reduce the discharge of oil or oily mixtures into the sea.

(2) A surveyor of ships and such other persons as the Minister may appoint may carry out such tests as may be prescribed for the purpose of this section and, for such tests, may charge such fees as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may direct.

(3) The owner and also the master of a ship, in respect of which there is a contravention of regulations under this section, shall be guilty of an offence. The offence shall be a continuing offence and fresh proceedings in respect of it may be taken from time to time.

Keeping of oil records.

17. —(1) The master of a ship registered in the State shall keep the prescribed records of—

(a) the discharge of any oil or oily mixture from the ship for the purpose of securing the safety of the ship, preventing damage to the ship or her cargo, or saving life;

(b) the escape of any oil or oily mixture from the ship, resulting from damage to the ship or leakage;

(c) the carrying out of prescribed operations, being—

(i) the ballasting of and discharge of ballast from cargo tanks or bunker fuel tanks, and the cleaning of such tanks, or

(ii) the separation of oil in any oily mixture, or

(iii) the disposal from the ship of any oil, water or other substance arising from such operations, or

(iv) the disposal of any oily residue.

(2) The Minister may make regulations requiring the keeping of prescribed records of the transfer of oil to or from any vessel, whether registered in the State or not, while within the territorial seas or inland waters of the State. Records of transfer of oil to or from a barge shall be kept, respectively, by the person by whom the oil is supplied or to whom it is delivered. In every other case, the records shall be kept by the master of the vessel.

(3) Regulations for the purposes of this section may provide for the custody, preservation, disposal and inspection of records and for such other ancillary matters as may be prescribed.

(4) Every person who contravenes this section or regulations under it shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds.

(5) Every person who makes in a record any entry or alteration which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Application of sections 16 and 17 (1) to foreign ships.

18. —(1) The Government may by order apply section 16 or subsection (1) of section 17 to ships registered in other countries while they are in a harbour in the State or within the territorial seas while on their way to or from such a harbour, unless their presence there is due to stress of weather or some other unforeseen and unavoidable circumstance.

(2) The Government may by order exempt from such application a ship of any country, if satisfied that the requirements of the law of that country are equally effective and that the ship complies with them.

(3) The Government may by order revoke an order under this section.