§ Mr. Anthony Grantasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is his policy on recommendation 847 on European action to prevent oil pollution of waters and coasts, recently adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; if he will take action on the proposals submitted in paragraph 10(v) of the recommendation on improving international co-operation; what steps have been taken by the Government to draw up an effective system of controls and deterrent sanctions as applicable to 486W standards of ships, equipment of ships and training of crew, paragraph 10(ii) of recommendation 847; and if he will cooperate with other interested Governments in drawing up detailed and co-ordinated contingency plans to deal with cases of pollution, paragraph 10(vi) of recommendation 847.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisOur first objective is, as far as possible, to prevent oil pollution. Given the international character of shipping, this is best achieved by securing agreement on as wide a base as possible to high standards. This leads us to stress the importance of acting primarily through the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (IMCO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Once agreement has been reached in IMCO or the ILO, we are concerned that those standards should be brought into effect promptly. When enacted, the Merchant Shipping Bill will enable us to ratify and implement a number of conventions. We welcome the support given by Recommendation 847 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for such action.
There is scope for regional co-ordination of research and co-operation in dealing with oil spills, and a firm basis for such action already exists under the (Bonn) agreement for co-operation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil 1969. This can sometimes usefully be supplemented by joint contingency plans, such as Mancheplan, which we have drawn up with France, but resources for dealing with oil spills need to be fairly close at hand and the appropriate response depends very much on local circumstances. These considerations set a practical limit to the scope for multi-lateral co-operation.
Provided that agreement has been reached in IMCO or the ILO, there is also scope for regional arrangements intended to secure consistent and concerned port state enforcement, as a complement to flag state enforcement: that has led to our participation in the Hague memorandum of understanding.
More generally, international action should supplement, rather than duplicate, national action. It is also important to avoid dissipating our efforts over too 487W many bodies—and, in this context, a littoral grouping of states is likely to be the most effective.