§ 67. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether Her Majesty's Government will propose to the International Maritime Commission that where a tanker is in collision or stranded outside territorial waters, an adjacent State should have power to ensure that the owners or salvage operators take all possible steps forthwith to avoid spillage of oil.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantThe Convention adopted at a conference convened by the Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation at Brussels in 1969 clarified the rights of contracting parties to take such measures on the high seas as are necessary to deal with the threat of oil pollution from a marine casualty. An Amendment which I am proposing to the Oil in Navigable Waters Bill will give us statutory powers to make provision for such action to be taken. It is for other contracting parties to decide how to give effect to the Convention in their own domestic laws.