These treaties and conventions aim to prevent or reduce the environmental damage from ship waste and spills of hazardous substances in accidents. In addition, many countries have enacted their own legislation on the subject, based on their own priority principle or simply after the international law. If the NSR is defined as an international shipping route, a vast influx of foreign ships will begin navigating seas recognized as an exclusive economic zone or territorial waters of Russia, or even the waters which Russia claims as internal. Adequate consideration of pollution caused by vessels in the NSR is indispensable to conform to both international and Russian laws.
In this section, a brief summary of international law is first presented, focusingparticularly on vessel-source pollutions. This is followed by a description of international efforts to preserve the environment of the Arctic Ocean. Second, the domestic laws of Russia are surveyed for vessel-source pollutions.
(1) International law
One of the longest-recognized vessel-source pollution is oily water pollution caused by discharged bilge. This ship-based source of pollution is one of the more internationally regulated areas of marine pollution. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL), proposed in1954 and enforced in 1958, was the first international agreement on marine pollution. Also in 1958, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was established as a technical agency of the United Nations. This body officially adopted the OILPOL in the same year. The principal functions of the IMO are the promotion of maritime safety and the protection of the marine environment. Amendments to OILPOL were made in 1962 and 1969 and enforced in 1967 and 1978 respectively. OILPOL was the first convention to attempt to control marine pollution and served as a basis for establishment of the succeeding conventions. The amended OILPOL was later found to be inadequate to deal with marine pollution, however, and so the International Conference on Marine Pollution was held in1973. This conference adopted the MARPOL73, which extended its provisions to a wide range of harmful substances and discharge, including any effluent, disposal, spilling, leaking, pumping, emission or emptying from ships. Enforcement of MARPOL73 was slow at first. However, a series of tanker disasters from December 1976 to January 1977, including the Olympic Game and Universe Leader incidents, led to the IMO holding the Conference on Tanker Safety and Pollution Prevention, which resulted in the 1978 Protocol. After numerous amendments, MARPOL73/78 is now the world's foremost convention governing maritime pollution from ship activity. The IMO subsequently adopted numerous amendments, conventions and protocols with more specific objectives for environmental protection. The Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Dumping Convention of 1972) dealt with dumping on a global basis, aiming to protect the marine environment principally through the restriction of disposal at sea of waste materials. More recently, this organization adopted the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness (OPRC) governing international cooperation against oil pollution.
Other provisions of international law also deal directly or indirectly with environmental preservation issues regarding ships and the use of the sea. The recently enacted UNCLOS, often called the "constitution of the sea," is a comprehensive body of law governing a wide range of maritime issues. Of its 17 chapters, one chapter deals specifically with matters of environmental preservation. However, treaties on ship safety can be considered part of the international law on preservation of the maritime environment, as they provide for measures to prevent spills of harmful substances in the event of accidents. The best-known treaty on ship safety is SOLAS. SOLAS is a treaty with a long history. First concluded in 1914, it has been updated twice since the formation of the IMO, in 1960 and 1974, in the form of new treaties. In 1978, and later in 1988, the 1974 treaty was supplemented with protocols.
