### Merchant Shipping (Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Ordinance 《商船(油類污染的法律責任及補償)條例》

20. Liability for cost of preventive measures where section 6 does not apply
(1) Where—
(a) after a discharge or an escape of oil from a ship, reasonable measures are taken to prevent or reduce damage in Hong Kong which may be caused by contamination resulting from the discharge or escape; and
(b) any person incurs, or might but for the measures have incurred, a liability, otherwise than under section 6, for any such damage,
he shall be liable for the cost of the measures, whether or not the person taking them does so for the protection of his interests or in the performance of a duty. (Amended 46 of 1997 s. 16)
(1A) Where—
(a) a relevant threat of contamination occurs and reasonable measures are taken for the purpose of removing or minimizing any such threat in Hong Kong; and
(b) section 6(1A) does not apply,
the owner of the ship shall be liable for the cost of the measures, whether or not the person talking them does so for the protection of his interests or in the performance of a duty. (Added 46 of 1997 s. 16)
(1B) Where a person is, by virtue of subsection (1) or (1A), liable for the cost of any measures, he shall also be liable for any damage in Hong Kong resulting from taking those measures. (Added 46 of 1997 s. 16)
(2) For the purposes of section 12 of the Merchant Shipping (Limitation of Shipowners Liability) Ordinance (Cap. 434) any liability incurred under this section shall be deemed to be a liability in respect of such damage to property as is mentioned in paragraph 1(a) of Article 2 of the Convention in Schedule 2 to that Ordinance. (Amended 55 of 1993 s. 30)

21. Saving for recourse actions
Nothing in this Part shall prejudice any claim, or the enforcement of any claim, which a person incurring any liability under this Part may have against another person in respect of that liability.

### Merchant Shipping (Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Ordinance 《商船(油類污染的法律責任及補償)條例》

22. Interpretation of Part III
(1) In this Part—
Fund (基金) means the International Fund established by the Fund Convention;
Fund Convention country (基金公約地區) means a country in respect of which the Fund Convention is in force;
guarantor (擔保人) means any person providing insurance or other security of the kind described in section 15(2).
(2) The Monetary Authority shall certify, in Hong Kong dollars, the respective amounts which are to be taken as equivalent for a particular day to the sum expressed in special drawing rights in Schedule 1. (Replaced 46 of 1997 s. 17)
(3) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Monetary Authority under subsection (2) shall be conclusive evidence of the matters contained therein and shall be admissible in legal proceedings under this Ordinance upon its production and without proof of the signature thereon. (Replaced 46 of 1997 s. 17)
(Amended 46 of 1997 s. 17)

### Merchant Shipping (Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Ordinance 《商船(油類污染的法律責任及補償)條例》

24. Power to obtain information
(1) The Chief Executive may, for the purpose of transmitting to the Fund a list of the names and addresses of the persons who, under section 23, are liable to make contributions to the Fund for any year, and the quantity of oil in respect of which they are so liable, by notice in writing require any person engaged in producing, treating, distributing or transporting oil to furnish to a person specified in the notice such information as may be specified in the notice. (Amended 64 of 1999 s. 3)
(2) A notice under this section may require a company to give such information as may be required to ascertain whether its liability is affected by section 23(6).
(3) A notice under this section may specify the manner in which, and the time within which, it is to be complied with.
(4) In legal proceedings by the Fund against any person to recover any amount due under section 23, any particulars contained in any list transmitted by the Chief Executive to the Fund shall, in so far as those particulars are based on information obtained under this section, be admissible as evidence of any relevant fact stated in the list; and in so far as particulars which are so admissible are based on information given by the person against whom the proceedings are brought, those particulars shall be presumed to be accurate until the contrary is proved. (Amended 64 of 1999 s. 3)
(5) A person who discloses any information which has been furnished to or obtained by him under this section, or in connection with the execution of this section, unless the disclosure is made—
(a) with the consent of the person from whom the information was obtained; or
(b) in connection with the execution of this section; or
(c) for the purposes of any legal proceedings arising out of this section, or of any report of such proceedings,
commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 2. (Amended E.R. 1 of 2022)
(6) A person who—
(a) refuses or wilfully neglects to comply with a requirement of a notice under this section; or
(b) in purporting to comply with a requirement of a notice under this section makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular,
commits an offence and is liable—
(i) on conviction upon indictment, to imprisonment for 1 year and to a fine at level 5; or
(ii) on summary conviction, to a fine at level 2. (Amended E.R. 1 of 2022)

### Merchant Shipping (Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Ordinance 《商船(油類污染的法律責任及補償)條例》

27. Effect of judgments
(1) Where in accordance with rules of court made for the purposes of this subsection the Fund has been given notice of proceedings brought against an owner or guarantor in respect of liability under section 6, any judgment given in the proceedings shall, after it has become final and enforceable, become binding upon the Fund in the sense that the facts and evidence in the judgment may not be disputed by the Fund even if the Fund has not intervened in the proceedings.
(2) Where a person incurs a liability under the law of a Fund Convention country corresponding to the provisions of Part II for damage which is partly in Hong Kong, subsection (1) shall, for the purpose of proceedings under this Part, apply with any necessary modifications to a judgment in proceedings under that law of the country concerned.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), sections 3 to 9 of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 319) shall apply, whether or not they would so apply apart from this subsection, to any judgment given by a court in a Fund Convention country to enforce a claim in respect of liability incurred under any law corresponding to section 25; and in the application of those sections of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 319) to such a judgment, the sections shall have effect as if subsections (2) and (3) of section 6 of that Ordinance were omitted. (Amended 46 of 1997 s. 21)
(4) No steps shall be taken to enforce judgment referred to in subsection (3) unless and until the court in which it is registered under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 319) gives leave to enforce it; and—
(a) that leave shall not be given unless and until the Fund notifies the court either that the amount of the claim is not to be reduced under paragraph 4 of Article 4 of the Fund Convention, or that it is to be reduced to a specified amount; and
(b) in the latter case, the judgment shall be enforceable only for the reduced amount.