Merchant Shipping (Civil Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Act · 2024 Revised Edition · Part 2
6. Limitation of liability under section 3
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
Where, as a result of any occurrence, the owner of a ship incurs a liability under section 3 by reason of a discharge or escape or by reason of any relevant threat of contamination, then, subject to subsection (4) —
owner
“owner”, in relation to a ship, means the person registered as the owner of the ship or, in the absence of registration, the person owning the ship, except that, in relation to a ship owned by a State which is operated by a person registered in that State as the ship’s operator, it means the person registered as its operator;
section 141 of the Merchant Shipping Order, 2002
(S 27/2002) does not apply in relation to that liability; but
he may limit that liability in accordance with this Act, and if he does so his liability (being the aggregate of his liabilities under section 3 resulting from the occurrence) shall not exceed the relevant amount.
In subsection (1)(b), “relevant amount” means —
in relation to a ship not exceeding 5,000 tons,
4.51 million special drawing rights; and
in relation to a ship exceeding 5,000 tons, 4.51 million special drawing rights together with an additional 631
special drawing rights for each ton of its tonnage in excess of 5,000 tons up to a maximum amount of 89.77 million special drawing rights.
The Minister may, with the approval of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan, by order published in the Gazette, make such amendments to subsection (2)(a) and (b) as appear to him to be appropriate for the purpose of giving effect to the entry into force of any amendment of the limits of liability laid down in paragraph 1 of Article V of the
Liability Convention.
Liability Convention
“Liability Convention” means the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1992;
Subsection (1) does not apply in a case where it is proved that the discharge or escape, or the relevant threat of contamination, as the case may be, resulted from any thing done or omitted to be done by the owner either with intent to cause any such damage or cost as is mentioned in section 3 or recklessly and in the knowledge that any such damage or cost would probably result.
discharge or escape
“discharge or escape”, in relation to pollution damage, means the discharge or escape of oil from a ship;
For the purposes of this section, the tonnage of a ship shall be its gross tonnage calculated in accordance with the regulations in Annex 1 of the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships 1969.
Merchant Shipping
(Civil Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution)
oil
“oil” means any persistent hydrocarbon mineral oil such as crude oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel oil and lubricating oil, whether carried on board a ship as cargo or in the bunkers of ship;
Terms defined in this Act
discharge or escape
Defined · s 22“discharge or escape”, in relation to pollution damage, means the discharge or escape of oil from a ship;
Liability Convention
Defined · s 2“Liability Convention” means the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1992;
oil
Defined · s 2“oil” means any persistent hydrocarbon mineral oil such as crude oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel oil and lubricating oil, whether carried on board a ship as cargo or in the bunkers of ship;
owner
Defined · s 2“owner”, in relation to a ship, means the person registered as the owner of the ship or, in the absence of registration, the person owning the ship, except that, in relation to a ship owned by a State which is operated by a person registered in that State as the ship’s operator, it means the person registered as its operator;
Part
International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund
Part