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 this regard and support various efforts in the US and elsewhere to help implement 

 MARPOL. 



APPS was amended in December 1987 by the Marine Plastic Pollution 

 Research and Control Act In order to Implement Annex V of the MARPOL treaty. 

 Annex V of MARPOL prohibits the disposal at sea of plastic wastes generated by 

 ships and establishes certain minimum distances from shore for the disposal of 

 other types of ship-generated garbage. APPS was drafted so as to apply these 

 Annex V restrictions to vessels in internal US waters, the territorial sea, and the 

 US Exclusive Economic Zone (i.e. out to 200 nautical miles offshore). The Act 

 provides civil and criminal penalties for violations In accordance with International 

 law. 



In addition to APPS, the Clean Water Act (CWA), which is administered and 

 enforced by EPA and the States, can be applicable to vessel discharges of garbage. 

 The CWA generally prohibits the discharge of pollutants without a permit, and the 

 Agency's Implementing regulations recognize the applicability of this prohibition to 

 garbage disposal from all vessels operating in the waters of the U.S., including the 

 territorial sea. In the case of vessels being used other than as a means of 

 transportation (e.g., factory ships), the prohibition extends beyond the territorial 

 sea and includes the EE2. The CWA also provides for civil Bnd criminal penalties 

 for violations. 



