Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) Subject to
subsections (4) and (6), if any discharge of oil or of an oily mixture
occurs from a ship into State waters, the master and the owner of the ship are
each guilty of an offence punishable, upon conviction, by a fine not
exceeding —
(a) if
the offender is a natural person — $50 000; or
(b) if
the offender is a body corporate — $250 000.
(2) If any discharge
of oil or of an oily mixture occurs from a place on land into State waters,
the occupier of that land is guilty of an offence punishable, upon conviction,
by a fine not exceeding —
(a) if
the offender is a natural person — $50 000; or
(b) if
the offender is a body corporate — $250 000.
(3) If any discharge
of oil or of an oily mixture into State waters occurs from any apparatus used
for transferring oil or an oily mixture from or to any ship, whether to or
from a place on land or to or from another ship, the person in charge of the
apparatus is guilty of an offence punishable, upon conviction, by a fine not
exceeding —
(a) if
the offender is a natural person — $50 000; or
(b) if
the offender is a body corporate — $250 000.
(4)
Subsection (1) does not apply to the discharge of oil or of an oily
mixture from a ship —
(a) for
the purpose of securing the safety of a ship or saving life at sea;
(b) if
the oil or oily mixture, as the case may be, escaped from the ship in
consequence of damage, other than intentional damage, to the ship or its
equipment, and all reasonable precautions were taken after the occurrence of
the damage or the discovery of the discharge for the purpose of preventing or
minimizing the escape of oil or oily mixture, as the case may be; or
(c) in
the case of an oily mixture, if the discharge was for the purpose of combating
specific pollution incidents in order to minimize the damage from pollution
and was approved by a prescribed officer.
(5) For the purposes
of subsection (4), damage to a ship or to its equipment shall be taken to
be intentional damage if, and only if, the damage arose in circumstances in
which the master or owner of the ship —
(a)
acted with intent to cause the damage; or
(b)
acted recklessly and with knowledge that damage would probably result.
(6) Without limiting
the generality of subsection (4) but subject to subsection (7),
subsection (1) does not apply to —
(a) the
discharge from an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture, not being oil or an
oily mixture of the kind referred to in paragraph (c), if the following
conditions are satisfied —
(i)
the oil tanker is not within a special area and is more
than 50 nautical miles from the nearest land;
(ii)
the oil tanker is proceeding en route;
(iii)
the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does
not exceed 60 litres per nautical mile;
(iv)
the total quantity of oil discharged into the waters does
not exceed —
(A) in the case of an oil tanker that is an
existing tanker — one part in 15 000 parts of the total
quantity of the cargo of oil of which oil discharged formed a part; or
(B) in the case of an oil tanker that is a
new tanker — one part in 30 000 parts of the total
quantity of the cargo of oil of which oil discharged formed a part;
(v)
the oil tanker has in operation an oil discharge
monitoring and control system and a slop tank arrangement as required by
regulations made by virtue of section 90B of the
Western Australian Marine Act 1982 3 or by virtue of
section 267A of the Navigation Act 1912 of the Commonwealth;
(b) the
discharge from a ship that has a gross tonnage of 400 or more and is not an
oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture if the following conditions are
satisfied —
(i)
the ship is not within a special area and is more than 12
nautical miles from the nearest land;
(ii)
the ship is proceeding en route;
(iii)
the oil content of the effluent is less than
100 parts in 1 000 000 parts;
(iv)
the ship has in operation an oil discharge monitoring and
control system, oily-water separating equipment, oil filtering equipment or
other installation as required by regulations made by virtue of
section 90B of the Western Australian Marine Act 1982 3 or by
virtue of section 267A of the Navigation Act 1912 of the
Commonwealth;
(c) the
discharge from an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture, being oil or an oily
mixture that is from the machinery space bilges (other than the cargo pump
room bilges) of the oil tanker and does not include oil cargo residue, if the
conditions specified in paragraph (b) are satisfied in relation to the
discharge;
(d) the
discharge from an oil tanker, or another ship that has a gross tonnage of 400
or more, of an unprocessed oily mixture, not being an oily mixture that
originated from the cargo pump room bilges of the ship or includes oil cargo
residue, if the following conditions are satisfied —
(i)
the ship is not within a special area;
(ii)
the oil content of the unprocessed oily mixture without
dilution is not more than 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts;
(e) the
discharge from a ship that has a gross tonnage of 400 or more and is not an
oil tanker of a processed oily mixture, not being an oily mixture that
originated from the cargo pump room bilges of the ship or includes oil cargo
residue, if the following conditions are satisfied —
(i)
the ship is not within a special area;
(ii)
the oil content of the effluent without dilution is not
more than 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts;
(iii)
the ship has in operation oil filtering equipment as
required by regulations made by virtue of section 90B of the
Western Australian Marine Act 1982 3 or by virtue of
section 267A of the Navigation Act 1912 of the Commonwealth;
(f) the
discharge from an oil tanker of a processed oily mixture, being a processed
oily mixture that originates from the machinery space bilges (other than the
cargo pump room bilges) of the oil tanker and does not include oil cargo
residue, if the conditions specified in paragraph (e) are satisfied in
relation to the discharge;
(g) the
discharge within a special area from an oil tanker, or another ship that has a
gross tonnage of 400 or more, of processed bilge water from machinery spaces,
not being bilge water that originated from the cargo pump room bilges of the
ship or includes oil cargo residue, if the following conditions are
satisfied —
(i)
the ship is proceeding en route;
(ii)
the oil content of the effluent without dilution is not
more than 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts;
(iii)
the ship has in operation oil filtering equipment as
required by regulations made by virtue of section 90B of the
Western Australian Marine Act 1982 3 or by virtue of
section 267A of the Navigation Act 1912 of the Commonwealth;
(iv)
the oil filtering equipment is equipped with a stopping
device that automatically prevents any discharge of effluent when the oil
content of the effluent without dilution is more than 15 parts in
1 000 000 parts;
(h) the
discharge within a special area from a ship that has a gross tonnage of less
than 400 and is not an oil tanker of oil or an oily mixture
if —
(i)
the oil content of the effluent without dilution is less
than 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts; or
(ii)
the following conditions are satisfied —
(A) the ship is proceeding en route;
(B) the oil content of the effluent is less
than 100 parts in 1 000 000;
(C) the discharge is made as far as
practicable from land and is not less than 12 nautical miles from the nearest
land;
(i)
the discharge, not being a discharge within a special
area, from a ship that has a gross tonnage of less than 400 and is not an oil
tanker of an oily mixture that without dilution has an oil content not
exceeding 15 parts in 1 000 000 parts; or
(j) the
discharge from a ship of clean or segregated ballast.
(7) A reference to an
oily mixture in subsection (6) shall be read as not including a reference
to an oily mixture that contains —
(a)
chemicals or other substances in quantities or concentrations that are
hazardous to the marine environment; or
(b)
chemicals or other substances that have been introduced for the purpose of
attempting to prevent the application of subsection (1) to the discharge
of an oily mixture from a ship.
(8) In proceedings for
an offence against subsection (1) in relation to a ship, it is sufficient
for the prosecution to allege and prove that a discharge of oil or of an oily
mixture occurred from the ship into State waters, but it is a defence if it is
proved that, by virtue of subsection (4) or (6), subsection (1) does
not apply in relation to the discharge.
(9) Where a person is
charged as the occupier of a place on land with an offence against
subsection (2), or as the person in charge of any apparatus with an
offence against subsection (3), it is a defence to the charge if the
person proves that the escape of the oil or oily mixture was due to accident
which could not have been avoided, foreseen or anticipated and that all
reasonable precautions were taken for the prompt discovery of the escape of
the oil or oily mixture and thereafter for preventing or reducing the escape
of the oil or oily mixture.