1. These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 1st April 2000.

2. The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1996(3) shall be amended as follows.

3. In regulation 16(1):

(a)for "the Black Sea area and the Antarctic area" there shall be substituted "the Black Sea area, the North West European waters area, and the Antarctic area"; and

(b)after sub-paragraph (c) there shall be inserted:

"(cc)"the North West European waters area" means the North Sea and its approaches, the Irish Sea and its approaches, the Celtic Sea, the English Channel and its approaches and part of the North East Atlantic immediately to the west of Ireland, being the area bounded by lines joining the following points:

(i)48° 27'N on the French coast

(ii)48° 27'N; 6° 25'W

(iii)49° 52'N; 7° 44'W

(iv)50° 30'N; 12°W

(v)56° 30'N; 12°W

(vi)62°N; 3°W

(vii)62°N on the Norwegian coast

(viii)57° 44.8'N on the Danish and Swedish coasts.".

4. In regulation 16(3)(b), for "Paragraph (2)(b)" (4) there shall be substituted "Paragraph (2)(a) and (b)(i)".

5. After regulation 29 there shall be inserted the following Part:

"PART VAINTACT STABILITY OF OIL TANKERS OF 5,000 TONS DEADWEIGHT AND ABOVE

29A-(1) This regulation shall apply to every oil tanker of 5,000 tons deadweight and above:

(a)for which the building contract was placed on or after 1st February 1999;

(b)in the absence of a building contract, the keel of which was laid, or which was at a similar stage of construction, on or after 1st August 1999;

(c)the delivery of which is on or after 1st February 2002; or

(d)which has undergone a major conversion:

(i)for which the contract was placed after 1st February 1999;

(ii)in the absence of a contract, the construction work of which was begun after 1st August 1999; or

(iii)which is completed after 1st Februray 2002.

(2) Every oil tanker to which this regulation applies shall comply with the intact stability criteria specified in Schedule 5A in Merchant Shipping Notice No. 1643/MARPOL 1 (Amended)(5).".

Explanatory Note

(This note does not form part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1996 to give effect to certain amendments to Annex 1 to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 to that Convention ("MARPOL 73/78"), which were adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee ("MEPC") of the International Maritime Organisation ("IMO") at its 40th and 41st Sessions.

The amendments adopted by the MEPC (which have the effect of amending Annex I (Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil) to MARPOL 73/78) are contained in the following Annexes to Resolutions of the MEPC-

(i)Annex 5 to Resolution MEPC 75(40) adopted on 25th September 1997; and

(ii)Annex 2 to Resolution MEPC 77(41) adopted on 2nd April 1998.

The changes are:

The North West European waters area is made a -�special area' for the purposes of Annex 1 to MARPOL 73/78. The area includes the North Sea and its approaches, the Irish Sea and its approaches, the Celtic Sea, the English Channel and its approaches, and part of the North Sea Atlantic immediately to the west of Ireland.

There are new requirements specifying the intact stability criteria of tankers of 5,000 tons deadweight and above in respect of which building contracts were placed on or after 1st February 1999 (or, in the absence of a building contract, at specified later dates).

A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and a copy laid in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG (telephone number 44(0)23 8032 9297). MARPOL 73/78 and MEPC Resolutions and Annexes are obtainable from IMO, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from EROS Marketing Support Services, Delta House, Imber Court Business Park, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BN (Tel. 0181 957 5028).