TO ALL MEMBERS 8 December 2011 Dear Sirs REGULATIONS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF MARINE POLLUTION FROM SHIPS Background We refer members to previous circulars on the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Ships (“the Regulations”), and the postponement of the requirement that owners/operators of (a) any ship carrying polluting and hazardous cargoes in bulk or (b) any other ship above 10,000 gt enter into a pollution clean-up contract with a Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) approved pollution response company before the ship enters a PRC port. Members were previously informed, pursuant to advice received from the MSA, that the MSA would publish lists of all approved contractors by the end of November. The International Group (IG) has maintained contact with the MSA and visited Beijing in November to meet with the MSA, various ‘ship pollution response organisations’ (SPROs), shipowners and other interested parties. Although the IG has continued to draw the MSA’s attention to the difficulty which members will face in complying with the Regulations if the enforcement date of 1 January 2012 is not put back, the IG’s understanding remains that the requirement to contract with an approved SPRO will still be enforced in all Chinese ports from 1 January 2012 and there will be a very short period of time for owners/operators to contract with an approved spill responder. Although a full list of approved SPROs has still not been issued, a partial list of Level I SPROs has been published and is contained in Annex I to this circular. The IG understands that further lists of approved SPROs are likely to be issued very soon although the full lists of SPROs may not be issued until much closer to the end of this year. In order to ensure that members can negotiate and sign the necessary contracts as soon as the list of SPROs is issued, a recommended spill response contract and authorisation letter for agents to negotiate and sign the contract on behalf of overseas operators are contained in Annexes II and III of this Circular. .. /... 2 The lists of approved SPROs will appear on the China MSA website once they have been published by the MSA - www.msa.gov.cn - and the following dedicated MSA spill response website: http://www.osp.cn/new/Index_news_disp.asp?nid=1088&Title=国内动态 The partial list of approved SPROs contained in Annex I has not yet been published by the MSA on these websites in English, but it is likely to be published in English soon. Negotiation and signature of the Contract Members have previously been advised that the term “operator” for the purposes of concluding and signing the contract with a SPRO is defined by the MSA as the owner, manager or actual operator of a ship. In respect of those operators not domiciled in China, the ship’s agent in port, local law firm or another legal entity located in mainland China (not Hong Kong, China or Macau, China) may negotiate and sign the contract on behalf of the operator if authorised by the operator to do so. The Master may also sign the contract, which may be necessary in certain circumstances, for example where speed is necessary, although an authorisation would still be necessary for the Master to sign on behalf of the operator. The IG is also aware of maritime agency firms domiciled in China that are offering services to act as agents for overseas operators to negotiate and sign spill response contracts on their behalf. Further details of these agencies and the services that they are offering to provide shipowners can be obtained from the Club. Members domiciled in mainland China or with a local office in China must negotiate and sign the contracts direct with the SPROs. The IG understands that the spill response contract requirements apply only to ships calling at ports on the Chinese coastline and do not apply to ships calling solely at inland waterway ports in mainland China 1 .