Sea Pollution (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006

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Amendment of section 3 (interpretation) of Act of 1991.

34.— Section 3 of the Act of 1991 is amended in subsection (1)—

(a) by inserting, before the definition of “discharge”, the following definitions:

“ ‘ AFS Convention ’ means the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems done at London on 5 October 2001;

‘ anti-fouling system ’ means a coating, paint, surface treatment, surface, or device that is used on a ship to control or prevent attachment of unwanted organisms;

‘ballast water’ means water with its suspended matter taken on board a ship to control trim, list, draught, stability or stresses of the ship;

‘ ballast water management’ means mechanical, physical, chemical, and biological processes, either singularly or in combination, to remove, render harmless, or avoid the uptake or discharge of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens within ballast water and sediments;

‘ BWM Convention’ means the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments 2004 done at London on 13 February 2004;”,

(b) in the definition of “discharge” by substituting “sewage, garbage, substances subject to control by Annex VI to the MARPOL Convention, anti-fouling systems or ships’ ballast water and sediments” for “sewage or garbage”,

(c) by inserting, after the definition of “discharge”, the following definitions:

“ ‘ harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens ’ means aquatic organisms or pathogens which, if introduced into the sea, including estuaries, or into fresh water courses, may create hazards to the environment, human health, property or resources, impair biological diversity or interfere with other legitimate uses of such areas;

‘hazardous and noxious substances ’ means any substance other than oil which, if introduced into the marine environment, is likely to create a hazard to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea;

‘ hazardous and noxious substances handling facility ’ means a facility where hazardous and noxious substances are loaded into or unloaded from ships;

‘ hazardous and noxious substances pollution emergency plan ’ in relation to a harbour, offshore unit, oil handling facility, hazardous and noxious substances handling facility, Irish ship or an area of seashore in whole or in part within the functional area, or contiguous to the functional area, of a local authority, means a plan for the prevention and minimisation of damage arising out of a pollution incident by hazardous and noxious substances approved by the Minister under section 2 of the Sea Pollution (Amendment) Act 1999 ;”,

and

(d) by inserting, after the definition of “related interests”, the following definition:

“ ‘ sediments ’ means matter settled out of ballast water within a ship;”.