Part I: Oil (Marpol 73/78, Annex I)

For the purposes of Marpol 73/78 Annex I, ‘oil’ means petroleum in any form including crude oil, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse and refined products (other than petrochemicals which are subject to the provisions of Marpol 73/78 Annex II) and ‘oily mixture’ means a mixture with any oil content. Excerpts of the relevant provisions of Marpol 73/78 Annex I: Regulation 9: Control of discharge of oil Subject to the provisions of Regulations 10 and 11 of this Annex and paragraph 2 of this Regulation, any discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixtures from ships to which this Annex applies shall be prohibited except when all the following conditions are satisfied: for an oil tanker, except as provided for in subparagraph (b) of this paragraph: the tanker is not within a special area; the tanker is more than 50 nautical miles from the nearest land; the tanker is proceeding en route; the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed 30 litres per nautical mile; the total quantity of oil discharged into the sea does not exceed for existing tankers 1/15000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part, and for new tankers 1/30000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part; and the tanker has in operation an oil discharge monitoring and control system and a slop tank arrangement as required by Regulation 15 of this Annex. from a ship of 400 tons gross tonnage and above other than an oil tanker and from machinery space bilges excluding cargo pump-room bilges of an oil tanker unless mixed with oil cargo residue: the ship is not within a special area; the ship is proceeding en route; the oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15 parts per million; and the ship has in operation (monitoring, control and filtering equipment) as required by regulation 16 of this Annex. In the case of a ship of less than 400 tons gross tonnage other than an oil tanker whilst outside the special area, the (flag State) Administration shall ensure that it is equipped as far as practicable and reasonable with installations to ensure the storage of oil residues on board and their discharge to reception facilities or into the sea in compliance with the requirements of paragraph (1)(b) of this Regulation. […]. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Regulation shall not apply to the discharge of clean or segregated ballast or unprocessed oily mixtures which without dilution have an oil content not exceeding 15 parts per million and which do not originate from cargo pump-room bilges and are not mixed with oil cargo residues. 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 purpose of circumventing the conditions of discharge specified in this regulation. The oil residues which cannot be discharged into the sea in compliance with paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of this Regulation shall be retained on board or discharged to reception facilities. […]. Regulation 10: Methods for the prevention of oil pollution from ships while operating in special areas For the purpose of this Annex, the special areas are the Mediterranean Sea area, the Baltic Sea area, the Black Sea area, the Red Sea area, the ‘Gulfs area’, the Gulf of Aden area, the Antarctic area and the North-West European waters, (as further defined and specified). Subject to the provisions of regulation 11 of this Annex: Any discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixture from any oil tanker and any ship of 400 tons gross tonnage and above other than an oil tanker shall be prohibited while in a special area. […]; […] Any discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixture from a ship of less than 400 tons gross tonnage, other than an oil tanker, shall be prohibited while in a special area, except when the oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15 parts per million. The provisions of paragraph 2 of this Regulation shall not apply to the discharge of clean or segregated ballast. The provisions of subparagraph (2)(a) of this regulation shall not apply to the discharge of processed bilge water from machinery spaces, provided that all of the following conditions are satisfied: the bilge water does not originate from cargo pump-room bilges; the bilge water is not mixed with oil cargo residues; the ship is proceeding en route; the oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15 parts per million; the ship has in operation oil filtering equipment complying with Regulation 16(5) of this Annex; and the filtering system is equipped with a stopping device which will ensure that the discharge is automatically stopped when the oil content of the effluent exceeds 15 parts per million. 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 purpose of circumventing the conditions of discharge specified in this regulation. The oil residues which cannot be discharged into the sea in compliance with paragraph 2 or 3 of this Regulation shall be retained on board or discharged to reception facilities. Nothing in this Regulation shall prohibit a ship on a voyage only part of which is in a special area from discharging outside the special area in accordance with Regulation 9 of this Annex. […]. […]. […]. Regulation 11: Exceptions Regulations 9 and 10 of this Annex shall not apply to: the discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixture necessary for the purpose of securing the safety of a ship or saving life at sea; or the discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixture resulting from damage to a ship or its equipment: provided that all reasonable precautions have been taken after the occurrence of the damage or discovery of the discharge for the purpose of preventing or minimising the discharge; and except if the owner or the master acted either with intent to cause damage, or recklessly and with knowledge that damage would probably result; or the discharge into the sea of substances containing oil, approved by the (flag State) administration, when being used for the purpose of combating specific pollution incidents in order to minimise the damage from pollution. Any such discharge shall be subject to the approval of any Government in whose jurisdiction it is contemplated the discharge will occur.

← ANNEX · All articles · anx_ANNEX__cpt_1__text_1 →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.