Introduction - Prevention of Pollution of the Marine Environment from Vessels - page 6

oil pollution damage. The most noteworthy of these are the 1969 International
Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC), 23 the 1969 Inter-
national Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil
Pollution Casualties (INTERVENTION), 24 and the 1971 International Convention
on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation of Oil Pollution
Damage (FUND). 25 The need to protect the oceans from dumping of pollutants
prompted the global community to adopt the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of
Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter. 26
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
(MARPOL) was adopted under the sponsorship of IMO in 1973. 27 However, this
Convention failed to come into effect, as it was not ratified by the necessary number
of States. Increasing incidents of pollution, involving oil tankers, were the catalyst
for an IMO conference on Tanker Safety and Pollution in 1978. Amongst others,
this Conference adopted a protocol to the MARPOL Convention, which was still
not in force at the time. The MARPOL 73/78 Convention is, therefore, a combina-
tion of the 1973 Convention and the 1978 Protocol. Under article 9 of the MARPOL
Convention,

it was stipulated that the MARPOL Convention superseded the

OILPOL Convention. 28
To date, the MARPOL 73/78 Convention is the most significant global legal
instrument for the prevention of vessel-source marine pollution. It covers all
technical issues, and introduced a system for the design, construction and necessary
equipment for pollution prevention. These substantive obligations will be
implemented through a system of certifications, inspections and surveys. Moreover,
this Convention calls on the coastal States, in somewhat non-mandatory language,

23 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage , opened for signature
29 November 1969, 973 UNTS 3, (entered into in force 19 June 1976), as amended by the 1976
Protocol to the 1969 Convention, 16 ILM 617 (entered into in force 8 April 1981) (hereinafter CLC
69).
24 International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution
Casualties , opened for signature 29 November 1969, 9 ILM 25 (entered into force 6 May 1975) as
amended by the 1973 Protocol Relating to Intervention On the high Seas in Cases of Marine
Pollution by Substances other than Oil, opened for signature 2 November 1973, 13 ILM
650 (entered into force 30 March 1983) (hereinafter Intervention Convention).
25 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for
Oil Pollution Damage , opened for signature 18 December 1971 1110 UNTS 57 (entered into force
16 October 1978), as amended by the 1976 Protocol to the 1971 Fund Convention, 16 ILM
621 (entered in force 22 November 1994) (ceased to operation 24 May 2002) (hereinafter FUND
71).
26 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter ,
opened for signature 29 December 1972, 11 ILM 1294 (entered into force 30 August 1975).
27 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, opened for signature
2 November 1973, 1340 UNTS 184 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 to the 1973 Convention,
opened for signature 17 February 1978, 1341 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 October 1983)
(MARPOL 73/78). For most recent version see MARPOL: Consolidated Edition 2011 (IMO,
London, 2011) (hereinafter MARPOL 73/78).
28 Hughes et al. ( 2002 ), p. 628.