Oil Pollution of the Sea (Civil Liability and Compensation) Act, 1988

PART III

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund

Returns of volume of oil carried by sea.

19.—(1) It shall be the duty of such persons as may be prescribed to submit annually to the Minister in such manner and on or before such date as may be prescribed a return of the volume of crude oil and fuel oil carried in each ship owned by such person and received in harbours, terminal installations and offshore terminals in the State.

(2) It shall be the duty of such persons as may be prescribed to pay each year into the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund established under the Fund Convention (in this Act referred to as “the Fund”) in such manner and on or before such date as may be prescribed such sums as may be determined by the Assembly of the Fund Convention and certified by the Director of the Fund, any such sum to be determined in accordance with the returns submitted to the Minister under subsection (1) or, where the person concerned fails or neglects to submit his return on or before the prescribed date, to pay to the Fund such sum as may be calculated on an estimate of that person's returns for that year.

(3) If any person fails to pay to the Fund any sum due and payable by him under subsection (2), the Director of the Fund may recover from the person by whom it was payable in any court of competent jurisdiction, as a simple contract debt, such sum together with interest thereon from the date on which such sum became payable, such interest to be at such rate as may, from time to time, be determined by the Assembly of the Fund Convention.

(4) Any person who—

(a) fails to submit, within the prescribed time, to the Minister the returns specified in subsection (1), or

(b) submits a false return to the Minister, or

(c) fails to make the payment specified in subsection (2) to the Fund,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) In this Act—

“the Assembly of the Fund Convention” means the Assembly specified in Article 17 of the Fund Convention;

“crude oil” means any liquid hydrocarbon mixture occurring naturally in the earth whether or not treated to render it suitable for transportation and includes oils (known as “topped crudes”) from which some distillate fractions have been removed and oils (known as “spiked crudes” or “reconstituted crudes”) to which some distillate fractions have been added;

“fuel oil” means heavy distillages or residues from crude oil or blends of such oils intended for use as a fuel for the production of heat or power of a quality equivalent to, or heavier than, the American Society for Testing and Materials' specification for number four fuel oil (Designation D396/69).