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Maritime Transport Act 1994

Protection of marine environment from harmful substances - Offences in respect of discharge or escape of harmful substances into sea or seabed

238: Failure to report discharge of harmful substance into sea or seabed

You could also call this:

"Telling authorities about harmful substances spilled into the sea or seabed is required by law."

If you do not report when a harmful substance is discharged into the sea or seabed, you can get in trouble. You must give notice as stated in section 227 or you will commit an offence. This applies to you if you are the master or owner of a ship, the owner of an offshore installation, or the owner of a pipeline that discharged the substance.

If the discharge happened because of marine operations, you can get in trouble if you are in charge of or carrying out those operations. You need a reasonable excuse for not reporting the discharge. If you do not have a reasonable excuse, you will commit an offence.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM337303.

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237: Discharge or escape of harmful substances from ship into sea or seabed, or

"Releasing bad substances from a ship into the sea or seabed is against the law"

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239: Failure to notify pollution incidents, or

"Telling authorities about pollution from ships and other marine activities"

Part 19Protection of marine environment from harmful substances
Offences in respect of discharge or escape of harmful substances into sea or seabed

238Failure to report discharge of harmful substance into sea or seabed

  1. If, without reasonable excuse, notice of discharge or escape of a harmful substance is not given in accordance with section 227, the following persons commit an offence:

  2. if the discharge or escape was from a ship, the master and owner of the ship:
    1. if the discharge or escape was from an offshore installation, the owner of the offshore installation:
      1. if the discharge or escape was from a pipeline, the owner of the pipeline:
        1. if the discharge or escape was a result of any marine operations, the person in charge of and the person carrying on the marine operations.