(d.) Article III (c) excepts the discharge of oil 

 or oily mixture from ships of 20,000 tons gross 

 tonnage or more "if, in the opinion of the master, 

 special circumstances make it neither reasonable 

 nor practicable to retain the oil or oily mixture on 

 board." In such case, "it may be discharged 

 outside the prohibited zones referred to in Annex 

 A to the Convention." Full details of such 

 discharges must be reported to IMCO at least 

 annually and the reasons for each such discharge 

 must be reported to the State Party to which the 

 ship belongs. 



b. Enforcement (1.) Article XII requires each 

 State Party to send to IMCO* ^ 



(/) disposal from ships other than tankers of 

 oily residues from bunker fuel tanks or other 

 sources; 



(g) accidental or other exceptional discharges 

 or escapes of oil from tankers or ships other than 

 tankers. 



A statement must also be made in the oil record 

 book of the circumstances of, and reason for, the 

 discharge or escape of oil or oily mixture excepted 

 by Article III (c) from the prohibition it otherwise 

 imposes or by Article IV. 



Any State Party is authorized to inspect any 

 ship covered by the Convention while it is within 

 any of its ports, as as well as the ship's oil record 

 book from which it may copy any entry. 



the text of laws, decrees, orders and regula- 

 tions in force in its territories which give effect to 

 the present Convention; 



all official reports or summaries of official 

 reports in so far as they show the results of the 

 application of the provisions of the Convention, 

 provided always that such reports or summaries 

 are not, in the opinion of that Government, of a 

 confidential nature. 



(2.) Article XI (1) and (2) requires every 

 tanker, and every ship which uses oil fuel, covered 

 by the Convention, to be provided with an oil 

 record book, in the form specified in Annex B to 

 the Convention, in which the disposition of oil 

 taken aboard is recorded. The book must be filled 

 in whenever any of the following operations takes 

 place in the ships: 



(fl) ballasting of and discharge of ballast from 

 cargo tanks of tankers; 



{b) cleaning of cargo tanks of tankers; 



(c) settling in slop tanks and discharge of water 

 from tankers; 



(d) disposal from tankers of oily residues from 

 slop tanks or other sources; 



(e) ballasting, or cleaning during voyage, of 

 bunker fuel tanks of ships other than tankers; 



IMCO was made the agency responsible for what- 

 ever international administiation the Convention calls for 

 by IMCO Assembly Resolution A.8(l), June 15, 1959, in 

 accordance with the provisions of Article XXI of the 

 Convention. Fifty-seven nations are now members of 

 IMCO. 



(3.) Article VI provides: 



Any contravention of Articles III and IX shall 

 be an offence punishable under the law of the 

 [State Party to which the ship belongs] . 



The penalties which may be imposed under 

 the law of [a State Party in respect of the unlawful 

 discharge from a ship of oil or oily mixture outside 

 the territorial sea of that State Party] shall be 

 adequate in severity to discourage any such unlaw- 

 ful discharge and shall not be less than the 

 penalties which may be imposed under the law of 

 that territory in respect of the same infringements 

 within the territorial sea. 



Each [State Party] shall report to the Organi- 

 zation the penalties actually imposed for each 

 infringement. 



(4.) Article X provides: 



Any [State Party] may furnish to the Govern- 

 ment [to which a ship covered by the Convention 

 belongs] particulars in writing of evidence that 

 any provision of the present Convention has been 

 contravened in respect of that ship, wheresoever 

 the alleged contravention may have taken place. If 

 it is practicable to do so, the competent author- 

 ities of the former Government shall notify the 

 master of the ship of the alleged contravention. 



Upon receiving such particulars, the Govern- 

 ment so informed shall investigate the matter, and 

 may request the other Government to furnish 

 further or better particulars of the alleged contra- 



VllI-83 



