| (a) |
any loss or damage caused, elsewhere than on such ship, tanker or offshore installation, in the area of the Republic by pollution resulting from the discharge of oil from such ship, tanker or offshore installation; |
| (b) |
the costs of any measures taken or caused to be taken by the Authority in terms of this Act after an incident has occurred in respect of such ship, tanker or offshore installation, for the purposes of reducing loss or damage caused as contemplated in paragraph (a) through the discharge of any oil, or for the purposes of preventing such loss or damage being caused, whether or not a discharge as contemplated in paragraph (a) has occurred and whether or not such a discharge in fact subsequently occurs; and |
| (c) |
any loss or damage caused in the area of the Republic by any measures so taken or caused to be taken after a discharge as contemplated in paragraph (a) has occurred. |
[Section 9(1) amended by section 35(a) of Act No. 23 of 1997]
| (2) |
For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)— |
| (a) |
any measures taken or caused to be taken by the Authority in terms of this Act to remove or prevent pollution of the sea by oil discharged or likely to be discharged from any ship, tanker or offshore installation, shall be deemed to be measures taken or caused to be taken by the Authority for the purposes contemplated in that subsection; |
| (b) |
the costs referred to in that subsection shall include— |
| (i) |
expenses reasonably incurred in connection with the taking of measures referred to in that subsection; |
| (ii) |
an amount deemed by the Director-General to be sufficient to compensate the South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, an organization registered in terms of the National Welfare Act 1978 (Act No. 100 of 1978) as a welfare organization, or any similar organization approved by the Minister, for expenses incurred in rescuing, conveying, treating, feeding, cleaning and rehabilitating coastal birds polluted by oil discharged from the ship, tanker or offshore installation in question. |
[Section 9(2)(b)(ii) substituted by section 35(b) of Act No. 23 of 1997]
| (3) |
The owner of any ship, tanker or offshore installation shall not be liable for any loss, damage or costs as set out in subsection (1) if he proves that the discharge or, as the case may be, the anticipated discharge in question— |
| (a) |
resulted from an act of war, hostilities, civil war, insurrection or an exceptional, inevitable and irresistible natural phenomenon; or |
| (b) |
was wholly caused by an act or omission on the part of any person, not being the owner or a servant or agent of the owner, with intent to do damage; or |
| (c) |
was wholly caused by the negligence or other wrongful act of any government or other authority responsible for the maintenance of lights or other navigational aids, in the exercise of that function. |
| (4) |
Where a ship or a tanker is together with another ship or tanker or with an offshore installation involved in an incident and a liability is incurred by virtue of the provisions of subsection (1) by each of the owners concerned, but the loss, damage or costs for which each of the owners would be liable cannot reasonably be separated from that or those for which the other owner or owners would be liable, the owners concerned shall be jointly and severally liable for all such loss, damage or costs. |
| (5) |
If the owner of any ship, tanker or offshore installation incurs a liability in terms of the provisions of subsection (1) for any loss or damage suffered or costs incurred as a result of an incident which occurred without such owner's actual fault or privity— |
| (a) |
the provisions of section 261 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951) shall not apply in respect of such liability; |
| (b) |
the aggregate of all amounts payable by such owner in respect of such liability, in so far as it relates to a particular incident, shall not exceed— |
| (i) |
in the case of a ship or a tanker, one hundred and thirty-three units of account for each ton of the ship's or tanker's tonnage, or fourteen million units of account, whichever is the lesser; |
| (ii) |
in the case of an offshore installation, a sum determined by the Minister, but not exceeding fourteen million units of account. |
| (6) |
The provisions of subsection (1)(b) shall not be construed as rendering, in the case of a tanker, any costs incurred in terms of the said subsection before a discharge of oil from such tanker has occurred, recoverable by virtue of the application of the provisions of the Convention. |
| (7) |
No legal proceedings to enforce a claim in respect of a liability incurred in terms of subsection (1) shall be entertained by any court unless such proceedings are commenced with not later than three years after the date on which such claim arose: Provided that no such proceedings shall be so entertained after the expiration of a period of six years after the date on which the incident by reason of which the said liability was incurred, took place, or in the case where the incident consists of a series of occurrences having the same origin, six years after the date on which the first of those occurrences took place. |
| (8) |
For the purposes of this section— |
| (a) |
"unit of account" means a Special Drawing Right as defined by the International Monetary Fund, and the value of such Special Drawing Right in South African currency shall be calculated in accordance with the method of valuation applied by the International Monetary Fund and which is in effect at the time when payment is made, or, in the event of an application in terms of section 12(1), at the time when such application is considered by the court; |
| (b) |
the tonnage of a ship or a tanker shall be its net tonnage with the addition of any engine room space deducted for the purpose of ascertaining its net tonnage. |
Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act, 1996
