Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1983

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 1983/1398
Year1983

1983 No. 1398

MERCHANT SHIPPING

The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1983

14thSeptember 1983

2ndOctober 1983

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

PART 1—GENERAL

1. Citation, commencement and interpretation

2. Application and exemptions

3. Equivalents

PART 2—SURVEYS, CERTIFICATES AND OIL RECORD BOOK

4. Surveys before issue of an IOPP or UKOPP Certificate

5. Annual survey

6. Intermediate survey

7. Issue and duration of IOPP and UKOPP Certificate

8. Responsibilities of owner and master

9. Procedure to be adopted when corrective action is necessary

10. Oil Record Book

PART 3—REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTROL OF OPERATIONAL POLLUTION— CONTROL OF DISCHARGE OF OIL.

11. General exemptions

12. Ships other than oil tankers and machinery space bilges of oil tankers

13. Oil tankers

14. Oil discharge monitoring and control system and oily-water separating and oil filtering equipment

15. Retention of oil on board

16. Methods for the prevention of oil pollution from ships operating in special areas

PART 4—REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SEGREGATION OF CARGO OIL AND BALLAST WATER

17. Interpretation of Part 4

18. New oil tankers of 20,000 tons deadweight and above

19. Protective location of segregated ballast spaces

20. Requirements for oil tankers with dedicated clean ballast tanks

21. Requirements for crude oil washing

22. Existing oil tankers engaged in specific trades

23. Existing oil tankers having special ballast arrangements

24. Segregation of oil and water ballast

25. Tanks for oil residues (sludge)

26. Pumping, piping and discharge arrangements of oil tankers

PART 5—REQUIREMENTS FOR MINIMISING OIL POLLUTION FROM OIL TANKERS DUE TO SIDE AND BOTTOM DAMAGE

27. Interpretation of Part 5

28. Limitation of the size and arrangement of cargo tanks

29. Subdivision and stability

PART 6—OFFSHORE INSTALLATIONS

30. Requirements for offshore installations

PART 7—REPORTING OF DISCHARGES

31. Reports to be made in the event of discharge or likely discharge

PART 8—POWERS TO INSPECT, DENY ENTRY, DETENTION AND PENALTIES

32. Power to inspect

33. Power to deny entry or detain

34. Penalties

SCHEDULES

1. Form of IOPP and UKOPP Certificates

2. Form of oil record books

3. Performance and test specifications for oily-water separating equipment and oil content meters

4. Guidelines and specifications for oil discharge monitoring and control systems for oil tankers

5. Specifications for oil/water interface detectors

6. Specifications for oil tankers with dedicated clean ballast tanks

7. Specifications for the design, operation and control of crude oil washing systems

8. Specifications for the design, installation and operation of a part flow system for control of overboard discharges

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by Article3 of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Order 1983(a) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

PART 1—GENERAL

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1983 and shall come into operation on 2nd October 1983.

(2) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires:

"amidships" means at the middle of the length (L);

"Annex I" means Annex I to the Convention (which sets out regulations for the prevention of pollution by oil);

"anniversary date" means the date in each year corresponding to the date of expiry of the IOPP Certificate;

"approved" means approved by the Secretary of State;

"area" in relation to a ship shall be calculated in all cases to moulded lines;

"breadth" (B) means the maximum breadth of the ship, measured amidships to the moulded line of the frame in a ship with a metal shell and to the outer surface of the hull in a ship with a shell of any other material, measured in metres;

"centre tank" means any tank inboard of a longitudinal bulkhead;

"Certifying Authority" means the Secretary of State or any person authorised by the Secretary of State and includes in particular (if so authorised) Lloyd's Register of Shipping, the British Committee of the Bureau Veritas, the British Committee of Det norske Veritas, the British Committee of Germanischer Lloyd, and the British Technical Committee of the American Bureau of Shipping;

"chemical tanker" means a ship constructed or adapted primarily to carry a cargo of noxious liquid substances in bulk and includes an oil tanker when carrying a cargo or part cargo of noxious liquid substances in bulk;

"clean ballast" means the ballast in a tank which, since oil was last carried therein, has been so cleaned that the effluent therefrom, if it were discharged from a ship which is stationary into clean calm water on a clear day would not produce visible traces of oil on the surface of the water or on adjoining shorelines or cause a sludge or emulsion to be deposited beneath the surface of the water or upon adjoining shorelines. If the ballast is discharged through an approved oil discharge monitoring and control system, evidence based on such a system to the effect that the oil content of the effluent did not exceed 15 ppm shall be determinative that the ballast was clean, notwithstanding the presence of visible traces;

"combination carrier" means a ship designed to carry either oil or solid cargoes in bulk;

(a) S.I. 1983/1106.

"the Convention" means the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973, including its protocols, Annex I (but no other Annex) and appendices thereto (a), as amended by the Protocol of 1978 to that Convention (b);

"Convention country" means a country which is a Party to the 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:

(a) crude oil from which certain distillate fractions may have been removed; and

(b) crude oil to which certain distillate fractions may have been added;

"crude oil tanker" means an oil tanker engaged in the trade of carrying crude oil;

"deadweight" (DW) means the difference in metric tons between the displacement of a ship in water of a specific gravity of 1.025 at the load waterline corresponding to the assigned summer freeboard and the lightweight of the ship;

"discharge", in relation to harmful substances or effluents containing such substances, means any release, howsoever caused, from a ship and includes any escape, disposal, spilling, leaking, pumping, emitting or emptying; but does not include:

(a) dumping within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter signed in London on 13 November 1972(c); or

(b) release of harmful substances directly arising from the exploration, exploitation and associated off-shore processing of sea-bed mineral resources; or

(c) release of harmful substances for purposes of legitimate scientific research into pollution abatement or control;

and "to discharge" shall be constructed accordingly;

"existing ship", without prejudice to regulation 17(2), means a ship which is not a new ship;

"filtering equipment" means filters or any combination of separators and filters which are designed to produce effluent containing not more than 15 ppm of oil;

"forward and after perpendiculars" shall be taken at the forward and after ends of the length (L). The forward perpendicular shall coincide with the foreside of the stem on the waterline on which the length is measured;

"Government ship" has the same meaning as in section 80(3) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906(d);

"GRT" means gross registered tonnage and the gross registered tonnage of a ship having alternative gross registered tonnages shall be taken to be the larger of those tonnages;

(a) Cmnd. 5748.

(b) Cmnd. 7347.

(c) Cmnd. 5169.

(d) 1906 c. 48.

"harmful substance" means any substance which, if introduced into the sea, is liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea, and includes oil;

"instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content" 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;

"IOPP Certificate" means the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate;

"length" (L) means 96 per cent of the total length on a waterline at 85 per cent of the least moulded depth measured from the top of the keel, or the length from the foreside of the stem to the axis of the rudder stock on that waterline, if that be greater. In ships designed with a rake of keel the waterline on which this length is measured shall be parallel to the designed waterline. The length (L) shall be measured in metres;

"lightweight" means the displacement of a ship in metric tons without cargo, fuel, lubricating oil, ballast water, fresh water and feed water in tanks, consumable stores, and passengers and crew and their effects;

"major conversion" means a conversion of an existing ship:

(a) which substantially alters the dimensions or carrying capacity of the ship; or

(b) which changes the type of the ship; or

(c) the intent of which in the opinion of the Secretary of State is substantially to prolong its life; or

(d) which otherwise so alters the ship that, if it were a new ship, it would become subject to relevant provisions of the Protocol(a) not applicable to it as an existing ship;

but conversion of an existing oil tanker of 20,000 tons deadweight and above to meet the requirements of regulation 18 of these Regulations shall not be deemed to constitute a major conversion;

"Merchant Shipping Notice" means a Notice described as such, issued by the Department of Transport and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, and any reference to a particular Merchant Shipping Notice includes a reference to that Notice as amended from time to time by a...

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