Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PREVENTION OF POLLUTION FROM SHIPS, 1973
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PREVENTION OF POLLUTION FROM SHIPS, 1973 +
THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION,
BEING CONSCIOUS of the need to preserve the human environment in general and the marine environment in particular,
RECOGNIZING that deliberate, negligent or accidental release of oil and other harmful substances from ships constitutes a serious source of pollution,
RECOGNIZING ALSO the importance of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954, as being the first multilateral instrument to be concluded with the prime objective of protecting the environment, and appreciating the significant contribution which that Convention has made in preserving the seas and coastal environment from pollution,
DESIRING to achieve the complete elimination of intentional pollution of the marine environment by oil and other harmful substances and the minimization of accidental discarge of such substances,
CONSIDERING that this object may best be achieved by establishing rules not limited to oil pollution having a universal purport,
HAVE AGREED as follows:
ARTICLE 1
General Obligations under the Convention
(1) The Parties to the Convention undertake to give effect to the provisions of the present Convention and those Annexes thereto by which they are bound, in order to prevent the pollution of the marine environment by the discharge of harmful substances or effluents containing such substances in contravention of the present Convention.
(2) Unless expressly provided otherwise, a reference to the present Convention constitutes at the same time a reference to its Protocols and to the Annexes.
ARTICLE 2
Definitions
For the purposes of the present Convention, unless expressly provided otherwise:
(1) “Regulations” means the Regulations contained in the Annexes to the present Convention.
(2) “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 any substance subject to control by the present Convention.
(3) (a) “Discharge”, in relation to harmful substances or effluents containing
such substances, means any release howsoever caused from a ship and
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