(1)
| (a) | Where an incident occurs in relation to a ship involving the loss or likely loss overboard of packaged dangerous goods into the sea, the master of the ship must, without delay, notify the appropriate authority giving such particulars in relation to the incident as that authority requires. If the appropriate authority is not so notified the master is guilty of an offence. |
| (b) | The appropriate authority is— |
| (i) | in relation to ships of South African nationality, the nearest proper officer and, where a foreign country is the nearest coastal state to the place where the incident occurred, the government of that foreign country; |
| (ii) | in relation to any other ship, the nearest proper officer. |
| (2) | It is a good defence to a charge under subregulation (1) for a person to show that he or she was unable to comply with the subregulation in relation to the incident concerned. |
| (a) | the master is unable to comply with subregulation (1) in relation to an incident; or |
| (b) | an incident occurs in circumstances in which the ship is abandoned, |
the owner, charterer, manager or operator of the ship or an agent of the owner, charterer, manager, or operator of the ship must comply with subregulation (1) in relation to the incident. If this subregulation is not so complied with each of those persons is guilty of an offence.
| (4) | It is a good defence to a charge under subregulation (3) for a person to show— |
| (a) | that he or she was not aware of the incident concerned; or |
| (b) | in the case of an incident to which subregulation (3)(a) applies, that he or she neither knew nor suspected that the master was unable to comply with subregulation (1) in relation to the incident. |
| (5) | If in pursuance of this regulation a person furnishes information that he or she knows or ought to know to be false or misleading in a material particular he or she is guilty of an offence. |
