The Prevention of Chemical Spill Incidents

The issue of chemical spills at sea raises the question as to what international regime exists aimed at the prevention of such. The international body regulating maritime matters is the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and it is necessary to turn towards that organization to find the answer. At the same time it is important to be aware of the fact that the work of IMO and the effectiveness of the instruments it adopts depends wholly on the work of Governments which undertake to implement and if necessary review such instruments.The prevention of chemical spills is first and foremost a safety matter and IMO is responsible for the adoption of a number of conventions currently in force and directed at greater safety at sea. In addition an important convention for the prevention of pollution of ships is in force. Safety conventions usually concern ships in general but there are a number of IMO conventions which have been directly affected by the development of the chemical trade. This paper restricts itself to discussing the latter.