MARPOL

In one line

MARPOL governs what a ship discharges in the ordinary course of running, which is a larger source of marine oil pollution than every tanker accident put together.

In exam wording: the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, adopted on 2 November 1973 and modified by the Protocol of 1978, together known as MARPOL 73/78, obliges Parties to give effect to its provisions and to those of its Annexes in order to prevent the pollution of the marine environment by the discharge of harmful substances or effluents containing such substances, and applies to ships entitled to fly the flag of a Party and to ships not so entitled but operating under its authority.

Why MARPOL rather than the Convention

The Law of the Sea Convention says in article 211 that States shall establish international rules and standards through the competent international organisation and shall adopt national laws having at least the same effect. MARPOL is those rules and standards, and the competent international organisation is the International Maritime Organization.

So a candidate who is asked about vessel-source pollution must give both: the Convention's allocation of jurisdiction, and MARPOL's substantive standards.

The articles

Article 1: general obligations. The Parties undertake to give effect to the provisions of the Convention and those Annexes 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 Convention. Any reference to the Convention constitutes at the same time a reference to its Protocols and to the Annexes.

Article 2: definitions.

• Regulations means the regulations contained in the Annexes.
• 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 Convention.
• Discharge, in relation to harmful substances or effluents containing such substances, means any release howsoever caused from a ship, including any escape, disposal, spilling, leaking, pumping, emitting or emptying. It does not include dumping within the meaning of the London Convention 1972, release resulting from the direct arising from the exploration, exploitation and associated offshore processing of sea-bed mineral resources, or release for the purpose of legitimate scientific research into pollution abatement or control.
• Ship means a vessel of any type whatsoever operating in the marine environment and includes hydrofoil boats, air-cushion vehicles, submersibles, floating craft and fixed or floating platforms.

The exclusion of dumping from the definition of discharge is the boundary between MARPOL and the London Convention, and it repeats the line drawn by article 1, paragraph 1(5), of the Law of the Sea Convention.