INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION RELATING TO INTERVENTION ON
THE HIGH SEAS IN CASES OF OIL POLLUTION CASUALTIES
(Brussels, 29 November 1969)
The States Parties to the present Convention,
Conscious of the need to protect the interests of their
peoples against the grave consequences of a maritime
casualty resulting in danger of oil pollution of sea and
coastlines, onvinced that under these circumstances
measures of an exceptional character to protect such
interests might be necessary on the high seas and that
these measures do not affect the principle of freedom of
the high seas,
Have agreed as follows:
Article I
1. Parties to the present Convention may take such
measures on the high seas as may be necessary to
prevent, mitigate or eliminate grave and imminent danger
to their coastline or related interests from pollution
or threat of pollution of the sea by oil, following upon
a maritime casualty or acts related to such a casualty,
which may reasonably be expected to result in major
harmful consequences.
2. However, no measures shall be taken under the present
Convention against any warship or other ship owned or
operated by a State and used, for the time being, only
on government non-commercial service.
Article II
For the purpose of the present Convention:
1. "maritime casualty" means a collision of ships,
stranding or other incident of navigation, or other
occurrence on board a ship or external to it resulting
in material damage or imminent threat of material damage
to a ship or cargo;
2. "ship" means:
(a) any sea-going vessel of any type whatsoever, and
(b) any floating craft, with the exception of an
installation or device engaged in the exploration and
exploitation of the resources of the sea-bed and the
ocean floor and the subsoil thereof;
3. "oil" means crude oil, fuel oil, diesel oil and
lubricating oil;
4. "related interests" means the interests of a coastal
State directly affected or threatened by the maritime
casualty, such as:
(a) maritime coastal, port or estuarine activities,
including fisheries activities, constituting an
essential means of livelihood of the persons concerned;
(b) tourist attractions of the area concerned;
(c) the health of the coastal population and the well-
being of the area concerned, including conservation of
living marine resources and of wildlife;
5. "Organization" means the Inter-Governmental Maritime
Consultative Organization.
Article III
When a coastal State is exercising the right to take
measures in accordance with Article I, the following
provisions shall apply:
(a) before taking any measures, a coastal State shall
proceed to consultations with other States affected by
the maritime casualty, particularly with the flag State
or States;
(b) the coastal State shall notify without delay the
proposed measures to any persons physical or corporate
known to the coastal State, or made known to it during
the consultations, to have interests which can
reasonably be expected to be affected by those measures.
The coastal State shall take into account any views they
may submit;
(c) before any measure is taken, the coastal State may
proceed to a consultation with independent experts,
whose names shall be chosen from a list maintained by
the Organization;
(d) in cases of extreme urgency requiring measures to be
taken immediately, the coastal State may take measures
rendered necessary by the urgency of the situation,
without prior notification or consultation or without
continuing consultations already begun;
(e) a coastal State shall, before taking such measures
and during their course, use its best endeavours to
avoid any risk to human life, and to afford persons in
distress any assistance of which they may stand in need,
and in appropriate cases to facilitate the repatriation
of ships crews, and to raise no obstacle thereto;
(f) measures which have been taken in application of
Article I shall be notified without delay to the States
and to the known physical or corporate persons
concerned, as well as to the Secretary-General of the
Organization.
Article IV
1. Under the supervision of the Organization, there
shall be set up and maintained the list of experts
contemplated by Article III of the present Convention,
and the Organization shall make necessary and
appropriate regulations in connexion therewith,
including the determination of the required
qualifications.
2. Nominations to the list may be made by Member States
of the Organization and by Parties to this Convention.
The experts shall be paid on the basis of services
rendered by the States utilizing those services.
Article V
1. Measures taken by the coastal State in accordance
with Article I shall be proportionate to the damage
actual or threatened to it.
2. Such measures shall not go beyond what is reasonably
necessary to achieve the end mentioned in Article I and
shall cease as soon as that end has been achieved; they
shall not unnecessarily interfere with the rights and
interests of the flag State, third States and of any
persons, physical or corporate, concerned.
3. In considering whether the measures are proportionate
to the damage, account shall be taken of:
(a) the extent and probability of imminent damage if
those measures are not taken; and
(b) the likelihood of those measures being effective;
and
(c) the extent of the damage which may be caused by such
measures.
Article VI
Any Party which has taken measures in contravention of
the provisions of the present Convention causing damage
to others, shall be obliged to pay compensation to the
extent of the damage caused by measures which exceed
those reasonably necessary to achieve the end mentioned
in Article I.
Article VII
Except as specifically provided, nothing in the present
Convention shall prejudice any otherwise applicable
right, duty, privilege or immunity or deprive any of the
Parties or any interested physical or corporate person
of any remedy otherwise applicable.
Article VIII
1. Any controversy between the Parties as to whether
measures taken under Article I were in contravention of
the provisions of the present Convention, to whether
compensation is obliged to be paid under Article VI, and
to the amount of such compensation shall, if settlement
by negotiation between the Parties involved or between
the Party which took the measures and the physical or
corporate claimants has not been possible, and if the
Parties do not otherwise agree, be submitted upon
request of any of the Parties concerned to conciliation,
or if conciliation does not succeed, to arbitration, as
set out in the Annex to the present Convention.
2. The Party which took the measures shall not be
entitled to refuse a request for conciliation or
arbitration under provisions of the preceding paragraph
solely on the grounds that any remedies under municipal
law in its own courts have not been exhausted.
Article IX
1. The present Convention shall remain open for
signature until 31 December 1970 and shall thereafter
remain open for accession.
2. States Members of the United Nations or any of the
Specialized Agencies or of the International Atomic
Energy Agency or Parties to the Statute of the
International Court of Justice may become
Parties to this Convention by:
(a) signature without reservation as to ratification,
acceptance or approval;
(b) signature subject to ratification, acceptance or
approval followed by ratification, acceptance or
approval; or
(c) accession.
Article X
1. Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall
be effected by the deposit of a formal instrument to
that effect with the Secretary-General of the
Organization.
2. Any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval
or accession deposited after the entry into force of an
amendment to the present Convention with respect to all
existing Parties or after the completion of all measures
required for the entry into force of the amendment with
respect to those Parties shall be deemed to apply to the
Convention as modified by the amendment.
Article XI
1. The present Convention shall enter into force on the
ninetieth day following the date on which Governments of
fifteen States have either signed it without reservation
as to ratification, acceptance or approval or have
deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance,
approval or accession with the Secretary-General of the
Organization.
2. For each State which subsequently ratifies, accepts,
approves or accedes to it the present Convention shall
come into force on the ninetieth day after deposit by
such State of the appropriate instrument.
Article XII
1. The present Convention may be denounced by any Party
at any time after the date on which the Convention comes
into force for that State.
2. Denunciation shall be effected by the deposit of an
instrument with the Secretary-General of the
Organization.
3. A denunciation shall take effect one year, or such
longer period as may be specified in the instrument of
denunciation, after its deposit with the Secretary-
General of the Organization.
Article XIII
1. The United Nations where it is the administering
authority for a territory, or any State Party to the
present Convention responsible for the international
relations of a territory, shall as soon as possible
consult with the appropriate authorities of such
territories or take such other measures as may be
appropriate, in order to extend the present Convention
to that territory and may at any time by notification in
writing to the Secretary-General of the Organization
declare that the present Convention shall extend to such
territory.
2. The present Convention shall, from the date of
receipt of the notification or from such other date as
may specified in the notification, extend the territory
named therein.
3. The United Nations, or any Party which has made a
declaration under paragraph 1 of this Article may at any
time after the date on which the Convention has been so
extended to any territory declare by notification in
writing to the Secretary-General of the Organization
that the present Convention shall cease to extend to any
such territory named in the notification.
4. The present Convention shall cease to extend to any
territory mentioned in such notification one year, or
such longer period as may be specified therein, after
the date of receipt of the notification by the
Secretary-General of the Organization.
Article XIV
1. A Conference for the purpose of revising or amending
the present Convention may be convened by the
Organization.
2. The Organization shall convene a Conference of the
States Parties to the present Convention for revising or
amending the present Convention at the request of not
less than one-third of the Parties.
Article XV
1. The present Convention shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General of the Organization.
2. The Secretary-General of the Organization shall:
(a) inform all States which have signed or acceded to
the Convention of:
(i) each new signature or deposit of instrument together
with the date thereof:
(ii) the deposit of any instrument of denunciation of
this Convention together with the date of the deposit;
(iii) the extension of the present Convention to any
territory under paragraph 1 of Article XIII and of the
termination of any such extension under the provisions
of paragraph 4 of that Article stating in each case the
date on which the present Convention has been or will
cease to be so extended;
(b) transmit certified true copies of the present
Convention to all Signatory States and to all States
which accede to the present Convention.
Article XVI
As soon as the present Convention comes into force, the
text shall be transmitted by the Secretary-General of
the Organization to the Secretariat of the United
Nations for registration and publication in accordance
with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Article XVII
The present Convention is established in a single copy
in the English and French languages, both texts being
equally authentic. Official translations in the Russian
and Spanish languages shall be prepared and deposited
with the signed original.
In witness whereof the undersigned being duly authorized
by their respective Governments for that purpose have
signed the present Convention.
Done at Brussels this twenty-ninth day of November 1969.
Annex Chapter I Conciliation
omissis
Chapter II Arbitration
omissis.
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