EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULE NO. 226 OF
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Transport and Construction
Protection of the Sea (Discharge of Oil from Ships) Regulations
The Protection of the Sea (Discharge of Oil from Ships) Act 1981 and the regulations replace the provisions of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil Act 1960 and the regulations made under that Act.
The new regulations make detailed provision in relation to the reporting of oil discharges from ships, specify the operations or occurrences required to be recorded in oil record books, identify particular offices in the Department of Transport and Construction for the purposes of the Act, empower the Minister to make orders and fix fees in connection with fitting of equipment designed to prevent the escape of oil into the bilges of ships, the setting of a fee of $20 for depositing of an oil record book for retention by a prescribed officer and exemption of certain ships from the provisions of the regulations.
The new regulations give effect to the detailed requirements necessary to administer Australia’s obligations under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil 1954 as amended in 1962, 1969 and 1971. Instruments accepting the 1971 Amendments were lodged with the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation in London on 13 November 1981.
RALPH J. HUNT