As part of an overall strategy to reduce pollution of the seas around their coastlines all Contracting Parties agree that the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78) must be effectively enforced. It is therefore essential that ships contravening these regulations by discharging materials illegally are detected, prosecuted and convicted. Shipping is an international business and the Bonn Agreement area covers some of the busiest shipping routes in the world. This means that a pollution incident may affect more than one country. For example a vessel may discharge an illegal quantity of oil in the Exclusive Economic Zone or equivalent zone of one Contracting Party whilst en-route between ports in two other member countries.

However, the process by which successful prosecutions are achieved varies from country to country. Some countries use the judicial procedures whereas others use administrative processes. Whichever process is used, exchange of information on the detection and prosecution of offenders between countries is essential to ensure effective enforcement of the MARPOL 73/78 Regulations throughout the Bonn Agreement area. This chapter aims to facilitate the flow of information by giving details of:

1. name(s) and address(es) of the national contact point(s) providing further information on national organisation and responsibilities;

2. the competent authorities in each Contracting Party for the various stages of the prosecution process;

3. the contact name and organisation in each Contracting Party responsible for exchange of information;

4. a standard form for feedback information concerning prosecution cases.

The term competent authority describes the Ministry, Department or Agency within each country involved in the process of prosecuting offenders. The type and number of organisations involved in the prosecution process will depend upon the legal systems in the countries concerned.

The way in which alleged offenders are treated depends on the legislation used to enforce the MARPOL 73/78 Regulations in each country. To allow for the different approaches adopted in individual countries, the prosecution process has been broken down into a series of separate tasks. In this way the information supplied by countries participating in the process can be listed systematically in a series of tables. These tables are purely indicative and no attempt has been made to compare different approaches. However, to facilitate reporting of offenders and exchanging information, information on the responsible authorities for prosecuting offenders in each country is also given in Table 2.

The stages are described below and indicate that several authorities can be involved:

l. Observation/reporting of Offence
Name of the competent authority to whom possible offenders should be reported.

2. Collection of Evidence
Name of the competent authority that collates all relevant evidence for a prosecution in standard form. Evidence that can be provided by different countries is provided in the table in Chapter 4.

3. Port State Control
Name of the competent authority for administrative inspection of a vessel in a port.

4. Assessment of Evidence
Name of the competent authority that assesses the evidence of the offence to see if it will be strong enough to secure a conviction.

5. Prosecution of Offenders
Name of the competent authority that actually carries out the prosecution in court.

6. Type of Court
The type of court where the person or company responsible for the alleged offence will be tried.

7. Enforcement of Penalty
Name of the competent authority responsible for enforcing the penalty.

8. Collection of Statistics
Name of the competent authority that collates statistics on this type of offence.

9. Feedback
Name of the competent authority that informs other government departments on the success or failure of the prosecution. This department may also pass information to other interested parties.

 

Table 1 gives the name(s) and address(es) of the national initial contact point(s) that can provide further information on national organisation and responsibilities. In Table 2 the authority responsible for each stage of the procedure is listed.