Part VI

Prevention of Pollution
Chapter IV

International Oil Pollution

Compensation Fund

Supplemental

Extinguishment of claims.

Interpretation.
181
1
In this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires—
- “damage” includes loss;
- “discharge or escape”, in relation to pollution damage, means the discharge or escape of oil from the ship;
- “guarantor” means any person providing insurance or other financial security to cover the owner’s liability of the kind described in section 163;
- “incident” means any occurrence, or series of occurrences having the same origin, resulting in a discharge or escape of oil from a ship or in a relevant threat of contamination;
- “oil”, except in sections 173 and 174, means persistent hydrocarbon mineral oil;
- “owner” means the person or persons registered as the owner of the ship or, in the absence of registration, the person or persons owning the ship, except that, in relation to a ship owned by a State which is operated by a person registered as the ship’s operator, it means the person registered as its operator;
- “pollution damage” means—
a
damage caused outside a ship by contamination resulting from a discharge or escape of oil from the ship,
b
the cost of preventive measures, and
c
further damage caused by preventive measures,
but does not include any damage attributable to any impairment of the environment except to the extent that any such damage consists of—
i
any loss of profits, or
ii
the cost of any reasonable measures of reinstatement actually taken or to be taken;
- “preventive measures” means any reasonable measures taken by any person to prevent or minimise pollution damage, being measures taken—
a
after an incident has occurred, or
b
in the case of an incident consisting of a series of occurrences, after the first of those occurrences;
- “relevant threat of contamination” means a grave and imminent threat of damage being caused outside a ship by contamination resulting from a discharge or escape of oil from the ship; and
- “ship” means any ship (within the meaning of Chapter III of this Part) to which section 153 applies.
2
For the purposes of this Chapter—
a
references to a discharge or escape of oil from a ship are references to such a discharge or escape wherever it may occur, and whether it is of oil carried in a cargo tank or of oil carried in a bunker fuel tank; and
b
where more than one discharge or escape results from the same occurrence or from a series of occurrences having the same origin, they shall be treated as one.
3
References in this Chapter to the territory of any country shall be construed in accordance with section 170(4) reading the reference to a Liability Convention country as a reference to a Fund Convention country or a Supplementary Fund Protocol country (as the case may be) .
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to Anguilla (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2580, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to Bermuda (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2581, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the British Antarctic Territory (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2582, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the British Indian Ocean Territory (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2583, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the Falkland Islands (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2584, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oneo Islands (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2585, arts. 2, 3, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2587, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2588, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the Turks and Caicos Islands (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2589, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the Virgin Islands (30.11.1997) by S.I. 1997/2590, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to Jersey (1.12.1997) by S.I. 1997/2598, arts. 2, 3, Sch. 1
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to Guernsey (11.3.1998) by S.I. 1998/260, arts. 2, 3, Sch. 1
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to the Cayman Islands (20.5.1998) by S.I. 1998/1261, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to Montserrat (20.5.1998) by S.I. 1998/1262, art. 2, Sch.
S. 181 extended (with modifications) to Saint Helena (20.5.1998) by S.I. 1998/1263, art. 2, Sch.
Words in s. 181(3) inserted (8.9.2006) by The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Supplementary Fund Protocol) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/1265), arts. 1(2), 11