Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Urbanization (MoEU) published an official gazette numbered 30621 on 10 December 2018, declaring an update on the marine pollution fines, effective from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2020. Pursuant to the Turkish Environment Code No.2872 dated 1983, any ship that violates Turkish anti-pollution regulations will be fined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the authority of Harbour Masters. In addition, shipmasters and legal entities related to the offending vessel are subject to not only administrative punishments, but also criminal proceedings.

Primary changes

There has been a significant increase in the amount of fines levied by the EPA and a stricter penalty against the offending vessels than before.

(1)   The administrative fines are imposed on real persons and legal entities, including shipowners, bareboat charterers and ship management companies.

(2)   Targeting categories include tankers, ships and other sea vehicles.

(3)   Fine amounts are minimum 3 times higher than previously applied for real persons and maximum 14 times for legal entities depending on type of vessels and pollutant.

(4)   Apart from petrol/petroleum products and dirty ballast, the categories of pollutants have been expanded to include garbage and sewage.

Standard: USD/TRY≈5.23

Important Notes

(1)   The current pollution fines are separated for real persons and legal entities and the applicable rates will be multiplied by three if the offenders are legal entities. In most cases, shipowners, bareboat charterers, and ship management companies including private owners and single ship companies all fall into the category.

(2)   Vessels which pollute the environment repeatedly also face heavier fines: first recurrence within 3 years will lead to the doubling of the fine whereas third and further recurrences will lead to a 200% increase.

(3)   Vessels discharging hazardous substances and waste are fined 10 times the amounts indicated for petroleum products.

(4)   If the vessel manages to remove the pollution by her own means, only 1/3 of the above rates are imposed.

(5)   Administrative fines are calculated according to the type and tonnage of vessels as well as the category of discharges, which means that vessels in larger sizes are subject to larger amounts of fines.

(6)   The EPA authority will impose fines upon offending vessels once it has collected one single piece of evidence such as photos and records.

(7)   Anchorages off Istanbul see frequent enforcement of penalties as the municipality has deployed speedboats and aircrafts to monitor sea pollution incidents.

Pollution fine issued by the EPA

(1)   The shipowners are entitled to lodge an appeal before the Administrative Court within 30 calendar days from the fine notification date. However, appealing the fine decision will not result in the lifting of the arrest order. Any video footage, pictures taken by environmental officers, coast guards etc. can only be released by a court order. Although at times the officers may release the same to P&I Club representatives and/or agents on an unofficial basis, there are very low prospects of success in the appeal proceedings.

(2)   We generally recommend the Owners to affect payment of the fine within the appeal period in order to benefit from the 25% discount so that the vessel would be able to sail without any delay. Remitting the fine amount will not be considered as an admission of liability and the Owners may still appeal the fine decision.

(3)   Under the relevant code, the EPA is entitled to ask for cash payment of the fine amount and generally they do not accept any form of security to release the ships. On an exceptional basis, they may accept bankers’ draft and/or payment guarantees to be issued by the ship agents payable within max.1-2 days and without any conditions.

(4)   In previous cases, the authorities confirmed that they will release the vessel against the LOU to be issued by the P&I Clubs or Insurance Companies recognised by the Turkish Government. However, they asked for the original LOU and its notarised official translation, which may lead to unnecessary delay of the vessel.

Pollution fine issued by port Harbour Master

(1)   If the vessel does not follow the local port regulations, as per Article 11 of the Ports Law numbered 618, the Harbour Master has the right to penalize the offending vessel an administrative fine between TL 500 to TL 20,000.

(2)   As per addition of Article 39/12 to the current Port Regulations, in circumstances requiring application of emergency response actions due to incidents causing damage or sea pollution, the Harbour Master has been given the right to impose an administrative fine against the offending vessel up to TL 5,000,000.

(3)   The shipowners are entitled to lodge an appeal before the Administrative Court within 15 calendar days from the fine notification date. However, appealing the fine decision will not result in the lifting of the arrest order of the fined vessels. Generally, there are very low prospects of success in the appeal proceedings.

(4)   If the fine is paid within 30 days, a 1/4 discount becomes applicable and the vessel would be able to sail without delay.

(5)   In case the subject fine is not paid by the Owner, the vessel can be sold on auction by the relevant authorities as per Law No. 4922 to recuperate the issued fine.

Criminal liabilities

Penal Code of Turkey, Article 181

(1)   Any person who intentionally discharges waste or refuse material into the earth, water or air, contrary to the technical procedures as defined in the relevant laws and in such a way as to cause damage to the environment, shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of six months to two years.

(2)   Any person who brings waste or refuse material into the country without permission shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of one to three years.

(3)   Where the waste, or refuse material, has the propensity to remain in the earth, water or air then the penalty to be imposed shall be double that of the penalty according to the above paragraphs.

(4)   Where an offence is committed as defined under paragraphs one and two in relation to waste or refuse material which has a characteristic which may cause the alteration of the natural characteristics of plants or animals, enhance or create infertility or cause an incurable illness in humans and animals, the offender shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and a judicial fine of up to thousand days.

(5)   Where the offences regulated under Paragraphs one, three, and four of this article are committed by a legal entity then security measure specific to legal entities shall be imposed.

Article 182

(1)   Any person who discharges waste or refuse material into the earth, water or air through his recklessness such as to cause environmental damage shall be sentenced to a penalty of a judicial fine. Where the waste or refuse material has the propensity to remain in the earth, water or air then the penalty to be imposed shall be imprisonment for a term of two months to one year.

(2)   Any person who causes, by his recklessness, the discharge of waste or refuse material which has a characteristic which may cause the alteration of the natural characteristics of plants or animals, enhance or create infertility or cause an incurable illness in humans and animals, the offender shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of one to five years.

Advice to Members

(1)   De-ballasting operations should be avoided unless the ballast water was checked and confirmed to be clean.

(2)   All overboard discharge valves should be closed and secured/sealed in closed position.

(3)   All deck scuppers should be plugged.

(4)   Hose test of hatch covers, hydrostatic test of deck pipes/hoses or other equipment should not be performed.

(5)   Washing of decks and superstructure should be avoided.

(6)   Treated water from the sewage system and grey water should be transferred to a holding tank and should not be discharged until the vessel is outside Turkish waters. If there’s no sewage holding tank onboard, an application should be filed immediately to the classification society for approval on a temporary holding tank, or water conservation measures should be taken to reduce wastewater and sewage.

(7)   All garbage and other substances should not be disposed in Turkish waters.

(8)   The vessel’s hull should not be scrapped, chipped or painted while alongside the pier or at anchor.

(9)   No soot blowing or install a filter if there’s too much engine exhaust.

(10) While the vessel is at the shipyard or in dry dock, even if the pollution is caused by the negligence of the shipyard, its employees or agents, the ship may be held vicariously liable for the pollution fine. Therefore, the crew members should exercise care and they should immediately protest in writing to the shipyard where they believe pollution took place.

For further information, please contact your manager at the Club.