China Ship Pollution Laws

(updated on 20/10/2011)

Under the framework set out in the Marine Environment Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on Administration of Prevention and Control to the Marine Environment by Vessels (hereinafter as "the Regulation") and four supplementary regulations were issued by the Ministry of Transport and the Maritime Safety Administration (hereinafter as "the MSA") and came to effect since 2010.

Four supplementary regulations are the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of the Civil Liability Insurance for Ship Pollution Damage (implemented on 1st Oct, 2010), Prevention and Disposal Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Marine Pollution from Ships and from Ship's Relevant Operations (implemented on 1st Feb, 2011), theRegulation of the People's Republic of China on the Emergency Prevention and Disposal of Marine Pollution from Ships(implemented on 1st June, 2011), and the Detailed Rule on the implementation of Agreement for Ship Pollution Response ( implemented on 1st June, 2011).

The regulations cover a wide range of issues of marine pollution prevention, such as developing emergency response plan, the discharge and reception of vessel pollutants, the loading, lightering and discharging of polluting hazardous cargoes, emergency response of pollution incidents, investigation and compensation of pollution incidents, oil pollution clean-up agreement, management of clean-up companies, and compulsory civil liability insurance for oil pollution damage.

Several requirements significantly concerning shipowners/operators are stipulated in the regulations.

Pre-contracting with approved OSRO
The operators of ships carrying polluting and hazardous cargoes in bulk and other ships above 10,000GT should conclude pollution response contract with oil spill response organization (hereinafter as "OSRO") approved by the MSA before entering into or departing from a Chinese port, or handle relevant operations.

Although the list of approved OSROs has not been published, it is clear that the OSROs will be ranked by their capability into four levels. Generally, one OSRO can only cover limited area such as one port or a small region. As a result, there is no OSRO who can cover nationwide.

Concluding contract with OSRO of which level depends on the tonnage of ship, the cargo onboard and the operation to be carried out. (For details, please download the Table of Contracting Requirement)

The contract should be concluded by the operator's branch or representative office in China, or the vessel herself and her local agent.

A model contract for ship pollution response which was published by the MSA is compulsory to be adopted by shipowner/operator and OSRO when concluding contract in accordance with the Regulations.

Due to the lack of the list of approved OSRO, the requirement of pre-contracting is postponed to 1st Jan, 2012. After that date, any vessel without the contract onboard or without the contract registered in the MSA will be subject to a penalty or other measures.

Assessment of pollution response operation
The ship should assess the pollution response operation when it is finished and submit the assessment report to the MSA. The commander group will also carry out evaluation on the response operation and pollution damage.

Discharge and reception of sludge
The operator should conclude contract with approved sludge receivers before discharging the sludge.

A reception document should be issued by the receiver to the ship after the operation. With the document and relevant records, the ship should apply to the MSA for the reception certificate.

Before departing from a Chinese port, the ships trading on international voyage are required to discharge all sludge and present the valid certificate to the MSA for port clearance. The port here is not limited to the last port before departing from China.

Compulsory insurance
All ships trading within Chinese territorial waters, with the exception of those below 1,000GT that are carrying non-oil cargoes, are required to maintain insurance or other financial security cover to satisfy the requirements of the Chinese Maritime Code or the 1992 CLC and 2001 Bunker Convention where applicable. The insurance amount of those ships sailing among Chinese ports or below 300GT is 50% of the amount of non-human injury compensation stipulated in Chinese Maritime Code.

For more information, please check CMS Newletters.