# Council Decision of 29 April 2004 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the Protocol to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, concerning cooperation in preventing pollution from ships and, in cases of emergency, combating pollution of the Mediterranean Sea (2004/575/EC), Article 4: Contingency plans and other means of preventing and combating pollution incidents


1. The Parties shall endeavour to maintain and promote, either individually or through bilateral or multilateral cooperation, contingency plans and other means of preventing and combating pollution incidents. These means shall include, in particular, equipment, ships, aircraft and personnel prepared for operations in cases of emergency, the enactment, as appropriate, of relevant legislation, the development or strengthening of the capability to respond to a pollution incident and the designation of a national authority or authorities responsible for the implementation of this Protocol.
2. The Parties shall also take measures in conformity with international law to prevent the pollution of the Mediterranean Sea Area from ships in order to ensure the effective implementation in that Area of the relevant international conventions in their capacity as flag State, port State and coastal State, and their applicable legislation. They shall develop their national capacity as regards the implementation of those international conventions and may cooperate for their effective implementation through bilateral or multilateral agreements.
3. The Parties shall inform the Regional Centre every two years of the measures taken for the implementation of this Article. The Regional Centre shall present a report to the Parties on the basis of the information received.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2004/575/attachment/1/article/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2004-575/attachment-1/article-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.