South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts8—Prohibition of discharge of oil or oily mixtures into State waters
(1) Subject to
subsections (2) and (4), if any discharge of oil or of an oily mixture
occurs from a ship into State waters, the master and the owner of the ship are
each guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty:
(a) if
the offender is a natural person—$200 000; or
(b) if
the offender is a body corporate—$1 000 000.
(2)
Subsection (1) does not apply to the discharge of oil or of an oily
mixture from a ship—
(a) for
the purpose of securing the safety of a ship or saving life at sea; or
(b) if
the oil or oily mixture, as the case may be, escaped from the ship in
consequence of damage, other than intentional, reckless or negligent damage,
to the ship or its equipment, and all reasonable precautions were taken after
the occurrence of the damage or the discovery of the discharge for the purpose
of preventing or minimising the escape of oil or oily mixture, as the case may
be; or
(c) in
the case of an oily mixture, if the discharge was for the purpose of combating
specific pollution incidents in order to minimise the damage from pollution
and was approved by a prescribed officer.
(3) For the purposes
of subsection (2)(b), damage to a ship or to its equipment will be taken
to be—
(a)
intentional damage if the damage arose in circumstances in which the master or
owner of the ship, or an employee or agent of the master or owner, acted with
intent to cause the damage;
(b)
reckless damage if the damage arose in circumstances in which the master or
owner of the ship, or an employee or agent of the master or owner, acted
recklessly and with knowledge that damage would probably result;
(c)
negligent damage if the damage arose from a negligent act or omission on the
part of the master or owner of the ship or an employee or agent of the master
or owner.
(4) Without limiting
the generality of subsection (2) but subject to subsection (5),
subsection (1) does not apply to—
(a) the
discharge from an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture, not being oil or an
oily mixture of the kind referred to in paragraph (c), if the following
conditions are satisfied—
(i)
the oil tanker is not within a special area and is more
than 50 nautical miles from the nearest land;
(ii)
the oil tanker is proceeding en route ;
(iii)
the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does
not exceed 30 litres per nautical mile;
(iv)
the total quantity of oil discharged into the sea does
not exceed—
(A) in the case of an oil tanker that is an
existing tanker—one part in 15 000 parts of the total quantity of
the cargo of oil of which oil discharged formed a part; or
(B) in the case of an oil tanker that is a
new tanker—one part in 30 000 parts of the total quantity of the
cargo of oil of which oil discharged formed a part;
(v)
the oil tanker has in operation an oil discharge
monitoring and control system and a slop tank arrangement as required by
regulations made by virtue of section 267A of the Navigation Act, 1912;
or
(b) the
discharge from a ship that is not an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture if
the following conditions are satisfied—
(i)
the ship is not within a special area;
(ii)
the ship is proceeding en route ;
(iii)
the oil content of the effluent is less than 15 parts in
1 000 000 parts;
(iv)
the ship has in operation equipment as required by
regulations made by virtue of section 267A of the Navigation Act, 1912;
or
(c) the
discharge from an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture, being oil or an oily
mixture that is from the machinery space bilges (other than the cargo pump
room bilges) of the oil tanker and does not include oil cargo residue, if the
conditions specified in paragraph (b) are satisfied in relation to the
discharge; or
(d) the
discharge from an oil tanker, or another ship that has a gross tonnage of 400
or more, of an unprocessed oily mixture, not being an oily mixture that
originated from the cargo pump room bilges of the ship or includes oil cargo
residue, if the following conditions are satisfied; or
(i)
the ship is not within a special area;
(ii)
the oil content of the unprocessed oily mixture without
dilution is not more than 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts; or
(e)
subject to subsection (4a), the discharge of oil or an oily mixture from
a machinery space bilge of a ship that has a gross tonnage of 400 or more
if—
(i)
the ship was delivered before 6 July 1993; and
(ii)
the oil or oily mixture did not originate from a cargo
pump-room bilge; and
(iii)
the oil or oily mixture is not mixed with oil cargo
residues; and
(iv)
the ship is not within a special area; and
(v)
the ship is more than 12 nautical miles from the nearest
land; and
(vi)
the ship is proceeding en route ; and
(vii)
the oil content of the effluent is less than 100 parts
per 1 000 000 parts; and
(viii)
the ship has in operation oily-water separating equipment
as required by regulations made by virtue of section 267A of the Navigation
Act, 1912; or
(g) the
discharge within a special area from an oil tanker, or another ship that has a
gross tonnage of 400 or more, of processed bilge water from machinery spaces,
not being bilge water that originated from the cargo pump room bilges of the
ship or includes oil cargo residue, if the following conditions are
satisfied—
(i)
the ship is proceeding en route ;
(ii)
the oil content of the effluent without dilution is not
more than 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts;
(iii)
the ship has in operation oil filtering equipment as
required by regulations made by virtue of section 267A of the Navigation
Act, 1912;
(iv)
the oil filtering equipment is equipped with a stopping
device that automatically prevents any discharge of effluent when the oil
content of the effluent without dilution is more than 15 parts in
1 000 000 parts; or
(h) the
discharge, within a special area from a ship that has a gross tonnage of less
than 400 and is not an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture, if the oil
content of the effluent without dilution is less than 15 parts in
1 000 000 parts; or
(j) the
discharge from a ship of clean or segregated ballast.
(4a)
Subsection (4)(e) does not apply after—
(a) 6
July 1998; or
(b) the
date on which the ship is fitted with equipment of a kind described in
Regulation 16 of the amendments to the Annex of the Protocol of 1978 relating
to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
1973 set out in Schedule 3 of the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of
Pollution from Ships) Act 1983 of the Commonwealth,
whichever is the earlier.
(5) A reference to an
oily mixture in subsection (4) shall be read as not including a reference
to an oily mixture that contains—
(a)
chemicals or other substances in quantities or concentrations that are
hazardous to the marine environment; or
(b)
chemicals or other substances that have been introduced for the purpose of
attempting to prevent the application of subsection (1) to the discharge
of an oily mixture from a ship.
(6) In proceedings for
an offence against subsection (1) in relation to a ship, it is sufficient
for the prosecution to allege and prove that a discharge of oil or of an oily
mixture occurred from the ship into State waters, but it is a defence if it is
proved that, by virtue of subsection (2) or (4), subsection (1) does
not apply in relation to the discharge.