S.L. 499.34 Art. 11Reporting of incidents and accidents at sea.

(1) Without prejudice to international law, when a ship is involved in an accident, an incident or a pollution event, the master of that ship shall immediately send to the coastal station responsible for the area in which occurred the accident, incident or pollution event, as the case may be, by the quickest means available the information specified in sub-regulation (3)

(2) If -

(a) a slick of polluting goods; or

(b) containers or packages drifting at sea; or

(c) any other material which may pose a pollution or a safety hazard, are seen from a ship in territorial waters and contiguous zone, the master of that ship shall immediately send to the coastal station responsible for the area in which the sighting occurred by the quickest means available details of the sighting and the information specified in sub-regulation (3)(a),(b) and (h).

(3) The information referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall include:

(a) the identity of the ship;

(b) the position of the ship;

(c) the last port from which the ship departed;

(d) the next port of call;

(e) the number of persons aboard the ship;

(f) the date on which and the time at which, the accident, the incident or the polluting event, as the case may be, occurred;

(g) details of the accident, the incident or the polluting event, as the case may be;

(h) the name of the body or person from whom detailed information regarding any dangerous goods or polluting goods on board the ship may be obtained, together with the necessary information, to enable that person or body, as the case may be, to be contacted; and

(i) any other relevant information referred to in IMO Resolution A.851(20).

(4) The coastal station responsible for the area in which the accident, incident or polluting event occurred, as the case may be, shall take all the necessary measures to notify the Authority and to broadcast within the relevant areas such accident, incident or polluting event notified to it under sub-regulation (1), and the information regarding any ship that poses a threat to the maritime safety, the safety of individuals or the environment.

(5) The Authority and the coastal station shall make adequate arrangements to provide the information notified to them according to regulations 6(6) and 11(1) at any time upon request for safety reasons by the competent authority of another Member State.

(6) The Authority or the coastal station shall, when they have been informed pursuant to these regulations or in some other way of facts which involve or increase the risk for another Member State of a hazard being posed to certain shipping areas and coastal zones, take all the appropriate measures to inform any interested Member State thereof as soon as possible and consult it regarding the action being envisaged. Furthermore, the Authority and the coastal station shall cooperate with such Member State with a view to pooling arrangements for joint action.

(7) In this regulation "polluting event" means an event or situation likely to result in the pollution of Maltese waters or the coastline of Malta, including, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the discharge, or the threat of discharge, of polluting goods into the sea.