§ Mr. Hicksasked the Secretary of State for Transport if, pursuant to his answer of 17 April, Official Report Volume 95, column 479, he will make a statement on the ratification by the United Kingdom of Annexes III and V of the MARPOL Convention on the carriage of harmful substances in packaged forms and the disposal of garbage from ships.
§ Mr. RidleyThe Government have now decided that the United Kingdom should ratify annexes III and V of the MARPOL Convention. Annex III is concerned with the packaging, labelling, stowage and documentation of packaged harmful substances carried at sea, and the effect of the provisions is to minimise the risk of pollution at sea and on shore through the loss of such packages. Annex V prohibits the discharge of certain types of garbage within specified distances from the coast. It also imposes a total prohibition on the discharge of plastics anywhere at sea.
The provisions of the annexes do not come into force until they have been ratified by a certain proportion of maritime nations. With ratification by the United Kingdom that proportion should soon be reached.