Singapore legislation
Section 25
of Merchant Shipping (Civil Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Act 1998
Section 25
Contributions by importers of oil and others
(1)
Contributions are payable to the Fund in respect of oil carried by sea to ports or terminal installations in Singapore otherwise than on a voyage only within its territorial sea.
(2)
Subsection (1) applies whether or not the oil is being imported, and applies even if contributions are payable in respect of carriage of the same oil on a previous voyage.
(3)
Contributions are also payable to the Fund in respect of oil when first received in any installation in Singapore after having been carried by sea and discharged in a port or terminal installation in a country which is not a Fund Convention country.
(4)
The person liable to pay contributions is —
in the case of oil which is being imported into Singapore — the importer; and
in any other case — the person by whom the oil is received.
(5)
A person shall not be liable to make contributions in respect of the oil imported or received by the person in any year if the oil so imported or received in the year does not exceed 150,000 tonnes.
(6)
For the purpose of subsection (5) —
all the members of a group of companies are treated as a single person; and
any 2 or more companies which have been amalgamated into a single company are treated as the same person as that single company.
(7)
The contributions payable by a person for any year —
must be of such amount as the Director of the Fund may determine under Article 12 of the Fund Convention and notified to the person by the Fund;
are payable in such instalments, becoming due at such times, as may be so notified to the person,and if any amount due from the person remains unpaid after the date on which it became due, it bears from then on interest, at a rate the Assembly of the Fund determines from time to time, until it is paid.
(8)
The Authority may, by regulations made with the approval of the Minister, impose on persons who are or may be liable to pay contributions under this section obligations to give security for payment to the Authority or the Fund.
(9)
Regulations made under subsection (8) may —
contain such supplemental or incidental provisions that appear expedient to the Authority; and
provide that any contravention of the regulations shall be punishable with a fine not exceeding $20,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or with both.
(10)
In this section and in section 26, unless the context otherwise requires —
Definition
“company” means a body incorporated under the law of Singapore, or of any other country;
Definition
“group”, in relation to companies, means a holding company and its subsidiaries as defined in section 5 of the Companies Act 1967 subject, in the case of a company incorporated outside Singapore, to any necessary modifications of those definitions;
Definition
“importer” means the person by whom or on whose behalf the oil in question is entered for customs or excise purposes on importation, and “import” is to be construed accordingly;
Definition
“oil” means crude oil and fuel oil, and —
“crude oil” means any liquid hydrocarbon mixture occurring naturally in the earth whether or not treated to render it suitable for transportation, and includes —
crude oils from which distillate fractions have been removed; and
crude oils to which distillate fractions have been added; and
“fuel oil” means heavy distillates or residues from crude oil or blends of such materials intended for use as a fuel for the production of heat or power of a quality equivalent to the “American Society for Testing and Materials’ Specification for Number Four Fuel Oil (Designation D396‑69)”, or heavier;
Definition
“terminal installation” means any site for the storage of oil in bulk which is capable of receiving oil from waterborne transportation, including any facility situated offshore and linked to any such site.
(11)
All contributions payable under this section and any interest payable thereon are debts due to the Fund and recoverable as such from the persons liable to pay the contributions in any court of competent jurisdiction.