Legislation:
Different international regulations have been issued since 1954 concerning the prevention of sea pollution (The Convention of 1954, The MARPOL Convention of 1973 ; The Protocol of 1978 ; The amendments of 1984, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1997…. (see Maritime International Conventions for more details)
Most of the technical measures, appearing in the six annexes of the MARPOL Convention 73/78, treat repectively the following questions :
Annex 1 (Hydrocarbon); Annex II (Toxic liquid substances transported in bulk); Annex III (Toxic substances transported by parcel by sea) ;Annex IV (Waste water); Annex V (Garbage); Annex VI (atmospheric pollution).
So concerning the hydrocarbons (oil in all of its forms, especially crude oil, fuel-oil, muds, hydrocarbon residue and refined products (other than the petrochemical products), it is now obligatory that tankers and other ships keep a current register of hydrocarbons (oil record book) in which all operations concerning the hydrocarbons are recorded as required by the IOPP certificate (International Oil Pollution Certificate)
The operations concerning substances relevant to the Annexe II (Category X, Y, Z or other Substances) must also be recorded in the cargo register which may be examined by the authorities of all State Parties of the Convention.
for more detail see: http://www.imo.org/
