Decision ID: 004060

At its October 2015 session, the 1992 Fund Administrative Council decided that a succinct guidance document reflecting the conclusions of the seventh intersessional Working Group regarding the definition of ‘ship’ under Article I(1) of the 1992 CLC should be prepared for approval in spring 2016.  It decided that the document should include the non-exhaustive lists of vessels falling within and outside the definition of ‘ship’, as agreed by the Administrative Council in October 2015, as well as the recommendation that the concept of the maritime transport chain should be used as an interpretive tool to assist with grey areas.

The 1992 Fund Administrative Council also decided to follow the recommendation of the Working Group and reverse a 2006 decision that oil discharged into ‘permanently or semi-permanently’ anchored vessels engaged in STS operations should qualify as contributing oil for the purpose of Article 10 of the 1992 Fund Convention and to discard the concept of craft ‘permanently or semi-permanently at anchor’.