# The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Garbage) Regulations 1998, Regulation 20: Defences


(1) In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove—
(a) that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to ensure that the Regulations were complied with;
(b) that the disposal was necessary for the purpose of securing the safety of the ship or installation or those on board, or of saving life at sea; or
(c) that the escape of garbage resulted from damage to the ship or installation or the ship’s or installation’s equipment and that all reasonable precautions were taken before and after the damage occurred to prevent or minimise the escape.
(2) Without prejudice to paragraph (1) above, it shall be a defence for a person charged to prove—
(a) in any proceedings in respect of a ship for contravening regulation 4 or 6 above by the disposal into the sea of synthetic fishing nets or synthetic material incidental to the repair of such nets, that the disposal was an accidental loss and that all reasonable precautions were taken to prevent the loss; or
(b) in any proceedings in respect of a ship for contravening any provision of regulations 4 to 6 above, that—
(i) the ship is not a United Kingdom ship;
(ii) the offence took place outside United Kingdom waters and controlled waters; and
(iii) the ship was in a port in the United Kingdom at the time of institution of proceedings by reason only of stress of weather or any other reason beyond the control of the master, owner, charterer or manager (if any).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1377/regulation/20 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-prevention-of-pollution-by-garbage-regulations-1998/regulation-20
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.