Helcom Recommendation 1/7 

adopted 5 May 1980 having regard to Article 13, Paragraph b) of the Helsinki Convention 

RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL ABILITY TO COMBAT SPILLAGES OF OIL

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING the provisions of Regulation 2 of Annes VI to the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1974, (Helsinki Convention) concerning the abi­lity of the States Parties to the Convention to combat spillages of oil and other harmful substances at sea;

RECOGNIZING the need for the development, as a first step, of the national ability of the States Parties to the Helsinki Con­vention to combat spillages of oil;

BEING AWARE of the great value of co-ordinated national efforts in this respect,

RECOMMENDS that Governments of the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention

a )    should, in establishing national contingency plans, aim at developing the ability of their combatting. services to deal with spillages of oil at sea so as to enable them

    (i) to handle oil spillages of up to 10 000 tons of oil within a period of time normally not exceding 10 days of combatting at sea;

    (ii) to keep a readiness permitting the first oil combat­ting unit to start from its base within two hours after having been alerted;

    (iii) to reach within six hours from start any place of a spillage that may occur in the response region of the respective country;

b) should assess the need for development of their combatting services, taking into account

    (i) relevant factors, such as the length and configura­tion of the coast line, tanker lanes and harbour approaches, etc;

    (ii) that this capability should be considered in con­nexion with the national salvage and lightering capacity;

    (iii) the targets specified in a) above, to be reached as soon as possible and, in any case, before the middle of the eighties;

c) should keep each other informed of action taken in order to implement this Recommendation.