S.I. No. 354/1980 - Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exceptions) Regulations, 1980.


S.I. No. 354 of 1980.

OIL POLLUTION OF THE SEA ACT, 1956 (EXCEPTIONS) REGULATIONS, 1980.

I, ALBERT REYNOLDS, Minister for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 10 (5) of the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (No. 25 of 1956), as amended by section 9 of the Oil Pollution of the Sea (Amendment) Act, 1977 (No. 15 of 1977), the Transport, Fuel and Power (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1959 ( S.I. No. 125 of 1959 ), and the Tourism and Transport (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1980 ( S.I. No. 11 of 1980 ), hereby make the following regulations:—

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exceptions) Regulations, 1980.

(2) These Regulations shall come into force on the 31st day of December, 1980.

2. In these Regulations—

"ballast voyage" means any voyage of a tanker on which that tanker is not carrying oil in bulk as cargo but has on board oil residues from a cargo of oil in bulk previously carried;

"from the nearest land"—

( a ) in relation to that part of the north-eastern coast of Australia which lies between points 11° 00'S, 142° 08'E and 24° 42'S, 153° 15'E, means from the nearest of the straight lines joining consecutively the following points, that is to say, 11° 00'S, 142° 08'E; 10° 35'S, 141° 55'E; 10° 00'S, 142° 00'E; 9° 10'S, 143° 52'E; 9° 00'S, 144° 30'E; 13° 00'S, 144° 00'E; 15° 00'S, 146° 00'E; 18° 00'S, 147° 00'E; 21° 00'S, 153° 00'E; 24° 42'S, 153°15'E:

( b ) in any other case, means from the nearest base line from which the territorial sea of any territory is established in accordance with the Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, 1958;

"instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content", when expressed in litres per mile, means the rate of discharge of oil in litres per hour at any instant divided by the speed of the ship in knots at the same instant;

"mile" means an international nautical mile, that is to say, a distance of 1,852 metres;

"proceeding" means, in relation to any voyage, making way through the water in the normal course of that voyage;

"tanker" means a vessel the greater part of the cargo space of which is constructed or adapted for the carriage of liquid cargoes in bulk and which is either carrying a cargo of oil in bulk in that part of its cargo space or has on board oil residues from a cargo of oil in bulk previously carried.

3. (1) This Regulation applies to ships other than tankers, and to tankers in relation only to discharge of oil or mixtures containing oil from their machinery space bilges.

(2) Every ship to which this Regulation applies is hereby excepted from the operation of section 10 (3) of the Act if all the following conditions are complied with:

(i) the ship is proceeding on a voyage; and

(ii) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed 60 litres per mile; and

(iii) the oil content of the discharge is less than 100 parts per 1,000,000 parts of the mixture; and

(iv) the discharge is made as far as practicable from the nearest land.

4. (1) Every tanker is hereby excepted from the operation of section 10 (3) of the Act provided that either

( a ) all the following conditions are complied with:

(i) the tanker is proceeding on a ballast voyage; and

(ii) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed 60 litres per mile; and

(iii) the total quantity of oil discharged during the ballast voyage does not exceed 1/15,000 of the total oil cargo carrying capacity of the nearest land; and

(iv) the tanker is more than 50 miles from the nearest land; or

( b ) all the following conditions are complied with:

(i) the tanker is proceeding on a voyage immediately following a ballast voyage and still has on board oil residues from a cargo of oil in bulk previously carried; and

(ii) the only oil discharged is oil from those oil residues; and

(iii) conditions (ii) and (iv) of subparagraph (1) (a) of this Regulation are complied with; and

(iv) the total quantity of oil discharged during that voyage and the immediately preceding ballast voyage does not exceed 1/15,000 of the total oil cargo carrying capacity of the tanker; or

( c ) the discharge consists only of ballast from a cargo tank which, since the cargo was last carried therein, has been so cleaned that any effluent therefrom, if it were discharged from a stationary tanker into clean calm water on a clear day, would produce no visible traces of oil on the surface of the water.

(2) This Regulation does not apply to discharge of oil or mixtures containing oil from the machinery space bilge's of tankers.

5. The Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exceptions and Exemptions) Regulations, 1957 ( S.I. No. 205 of 1957 ), the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exception from Section 10 (3)) Regulations, 1958 ( S.I. No. 244 of 1958 ), and the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exceptions and Exemptions) (Amendment) Regulations, 1967 ( S.I. No. 126 of 1967 ), are hereby revoked.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 20th day of November, 1980.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Minister for Transport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations provide that ships other than tankers, and tankers in relation only to their machinery space bilges and discharges of oil therefrom, shall be excepted from the operation of Section 10 (3) of the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 , as amended, provided certain conditions are fulfilled.

They replace the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exceptions and Exemptions) Regulations, 1957. the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exception from Section 10 (3)) Regulations, 1958, and the Oil Pollution of the Sea Act, 1956 (Exceptions and Exemptions) (Amendment) Regulations, 1967.