The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Belize) (Amendment) Order 1981

Made: 18th February 1981

Laid before Parliament: 26th February 1981

Coming into Operation: 20th March 1981

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 18th day of February 1981

Present,

The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred upon Her by section 18(1) of the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Act 1971, section 20(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1974, section 38(5) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979 and section 738(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 and all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—

1

This Order may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Belize) (Amendment) Order 1981 and shall come into operation on 20th March 1981.

2

The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Belize) Order 1975 shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in the Schedule hereto.

SCHEDULE

PART I

1

In Schedule I to the Order:

• (1) In section 4—

• (a) for the words “2,000 gold francs” and “210 million gold francs” in subsection (1)(b) there shall be substituted respectively the words “133 special drawing rights” and “14 million special drawing rights”; and

• (b) subsections (3) to (5) shall cease to have effect.

• (2) In section 5, after subsection (2) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

(2A) A payment into court of the amount of a limit determined in pursuance of this section shall be made in dollars and— (a) for the purposes of converting such an amount from special drawing rights into dollars the Monetary Authority may specify in dollars the respective amounts which are to be taken as equivalent for a particular day to the sums expressed in special drawing rights in section 4 of this Act; (b) a certificate given by or on behalf of the Monetary Authority in pursuance of paragraph (a) above shall be conclusive evidence of those matters for the purposes of this Act; (c) a document purporting to be such a certificate shall, in any proceedings, be received in evidence and, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be such a certificate.

• (3) For the purposes of sections 10(2) and 11(1) references in Article VII of the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage signed in Brussels in 1969 to Article V of the Convention shall be construed as references to Article V as amended by Article II of the protocol dated 19th November 1976 to the Convention; and in section 14(2) for the words “Article V thereof” there shall be substituted the words “Article V of the Convention as amended by Article II of the protocol dated 19th November 1976 to the Convention”.

2

The amendments to the Act specified in this Part of this Schedule shall come into force on such day as the Governor may by Order appoint.

PART II

Signed

N. E. Leigh — Clerk of the Privy Council

Explanatory note

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order amends the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Belize) Order 1975, which extended to Belize with the necessary adaptations, the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Act 1971 and the provisions of Parts I and V of, and of Schedule 1 to, the Merchant Shipping Act 1974. It takes into account the amendment of these Acts in the United Kingdom by section 38 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979. The Order gives effect in Belize to the Protocol of 19th November 1976 to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage of 29th November 1969 (Cmnd. 7028) and the Protocol of 19th November 1976 to the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage of 18th December 1971 (Cmnd. 7029). The Protocols substitute special drawing rights for gold francs as the unit of account to be used in connection with each Convention.