### Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 《商船(防止油類污染)規例》

12B. Provision of oil residue (sludge) tank and disposal of oil residue (sludge)
(1) This regulation applies to a ship of 400 GT and above.
(2) Subject to paragraph (4), a ship must be provided with an oil residue (sludge) tank, and the tank must comply with Regulation 12.3 of Annex I.
(3) The oil residue (sludge) of a ship must be disposed of directly from the oil residue (sludge) tank of the ship to one of the means described in Regulation 12.2 of Annex I.
(4) If a ship—
(a) is constructed before 1 January 2017; and
(b) is not subject to a renewal survey under regulation 4 during the period between 1 January 2017 and the commencement date,
the oil residue (sludge) tank of the ship must comply with Regulation 12.3.3 of Annex I not later than the first renewal survey of the ship that is carried out after the commencement date.
(5) In this regulation—
*commencement date (生效日期) means the date on which the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2019 (L.N. 127 of 2019) comes into operation; (E.R. 4 of 2020)
oil residue (sludge) tank (油類殘餘物(油類淤渣)液艙) has the meaning given by Regulation 1 of Annex I.
(L.N. 127 of 2019) Editorial Note:
* Commencement date: 1 January 2020.

### Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 《商船(防止油類污染)規例》

13. Oil tankers
(1) Subject to regulation 11 this regulation applies to—
(a) every Hong Kong oil tanker; and
(b) every other oil tanker when it is within the waters of Hong Kong.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this regulation an oil tanker to which this regulation applies shall not discharge any oil or oily mixture (except those for which provision is made in regulation 12) into any part of the sea unless all the following conditions are satisfied—
(a) the tanker is proceeding on a voyage;
(b) the tanker is not within a special area;
(ba) the tanker is not within Arctic waters; (L.N. 45 of 2019)
(c) the tanker is more than 50 miles from the nearest land;
(d) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed 30 litres per mile; (L.N. 641 of 1994)
(e) for oil tankers delivered after 31 December 1979 (being ships delivered after 31 December 1979), the total quantity of oil discharged into the sea does not exceed 1/30 000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part, or, for oil tankers delivered on or before 31 December 1979 (being ships delivered on or before 31 December 1979), the total quantity of oil discharged does not exceed 1/15 000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part; and (L.N. 47 of 2016)
(f) the tanker has in operation an oil discharge monitoring and control system and a slop tank arrangement as required by regulation 15.
(3) Paragraph (2) shall not apply to the discharge of—
(a) clean or segregated ballast; or
(b) an unprocessed oily mixture which without dilution has an oil content not exceeding 15 ppm, which does not originate from cargo room bilges and which is not mixed with oil cargo residues. (L.N. 177 of 1991)
(4) No discharge into the sea shall contain chemicals or other substances in quantities or concentrations which are hazardous to the marine environment or chemicals or other substances introduced for the purposes of circumventing the conditions of discharge prescribed by this regulation.
(5) Insofar as any oil or oily mixture has not been unloaded as cargo and may not be discharged into the sea in compliance with paragraph (2) of this regulation, it shall be retained on board and shall only be discharged into reception facilities.

### Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 《商船(防止油類污染)規例》

16B. Notification of STS operation
(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if an oil tanker to which regulation 16A applies is scheduled to engage in an STS operation referred to in regulation 16A(1) within the territorial sea or the exclusive economic zone of a Convention country, the owner or the master of the tanker must, at least 48 hours before the operation begins (specified time

16C. Special requirements for carriage or use of heavy grade oil in Antarctic area
(1) The following carriage or use of heavy grade oil by a Hong Kong ship is prohibited in the Antarctic area—
(a) carriage of heavy grade oil in bulk as cargo (use as ballast);
(b) carriage of heavy grade oil as fuel; and
(c) use of heavy grade oil as fuel.
(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply if the Hong Kong ship is engaged—
(a) in securing the safety of a ship; and
(b) in a search and rescue operation.
(L.N. 47 of 2016)

16D. Interpretation of Part IIIA
In this Part—
applicable Polar requirements (適用極地規定), in relation to a ship, means the requirements set out in paragraph 1.2 of Chapter 1 of Part II-A of the Polar Code that are applicable to the ship;
statement of compliance (合規陳述) means a statement of compliance referred to in regulation 16G.

16E. Application of Part IIIA
This Part applies to a Hong Kong ship that—
(a) is constructed on or after 1 January 2017; and
(b) is—
(i) a Category A ship, or Category B ship, as defined by section 2 of the Introduction of the Polar Code; or
(ii) a Category A oil tanker, or Category B oil tanker, referred to in paragraph 1.2.3 of Chapter 1 of Part II-A of the Polar Code.

16F. Requirements for ships operating in polar waters
A ship must not operate in polar waters unless the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate in force in respect of the ship contains a statement of compliance.

### Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 《商船(防止油類污染)規例》

16G. Statement of compliance
(1) The Director may, on application by the owner of a ship, make a statement of compliance in the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate in force in respect of the ship certifying that the structure and arrangements of the ship comply with the applicable Polar requirements.
(2) The Director may make a statement of compliance if satisfied, based on the result of a survey of the ship carried out in accordance with regulation 4, that the structure and arrangements of the ship comply with the applicable Polar requirements.

16H. Transitional provision
(1) This regulation applies in relation to a ship—
(a) the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate in force in respect of which does not contain a statement of compliance; and
(b) the structure and arrangements of which comply with the applicable Polar requirements.
(2) For the purposes of regulation 16F, the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate in force in respect of a ship is regarded as containing a statement of compliance until the earlier of the following—
(a) the expiry of 3 months beginning on the date on which the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) (Amendment) Regulation 2019 (L.N. 45 of 2019) comes into operation*; (E.R. 1 of 2023)
(b) a statement of compliance is made in the Certificate under regulation 16G.

Editorial Note:
* Operation date: 31 May 2019.