[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 33, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 33CFR155.1025]

[Page 392-393]
 
                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
 
    CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED)
 
PART 155--OIL OR HAZARDOUS MATERIAL POLLUTION PREVENTION REGULATIONS FOR VESSELS--Table of Contents
 
                        Subpart D--Response Plans
 
Sec. 155.1025  Operating restrictions and interim operating authorization.

    (a) Vessels subject to this subpart may not perform the following 
functions, unless operating in compliance with a plan approved under 
Sec. 155.1065:
    (1) Handling, storing, or transporting oil on the navigable waters 
of the United States; or
    (2) Transferring oil in any other port or place subject to U.S. 
jurisdiction.
    (b) Vessels subject to this subpart may not transfer oil in a port 
or place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, where the oil 
to be transferred was received from another vessel subject to this 
subpart during a lightering operation referred to in Sec. 155.1015(b), 
unless both vessels engaged in the lightering operation were operating 
at the time in compliance with a plan approved under Sec. 155.1065.
    (c)(1) Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraph (a) of this 
section, a vessel may continue to handle, store, transport, transfer, or 
lighter oil for 2 years after the date of submission of a response plan 
pending approval of that plan, if the vessel owner or operator has 
received written authorization for continued operations from the Coast 
Guard.
    (2) To receive this authorization, the vessel owner or operator must 
certify in writing to the Coast Guard that the owner or operator has 
identified and ensured the availability of, through contract or other 
approved means, the necessary private response resources to respond, to 
the maximum extent practicable, to a worst case discharge or substantial 
threat of such a discharge from their vessel as described in 
Secs. 155.1050, 155.1052, 155.1230, or 155.2230, as appropriate.
    (d) With respect to paragraph (b) of this section, a vessel may not 
continue to handle, store, transport, transfer, or lighter oil if--
    (1) The Coast Guard determines that the response resources 
identified in the

[[Page 393]]

vessel's certification statement do not meet the requirements of this 
subpart;
    (2) The contracts or agreements cited in the vessel's certification 
statement are no longer valid;
    (3) The vessel is not operating in compliance with the submitted 
plan; or
    (4) The period of this authorization expires.
    (e) An owner or operator of a vessel may be authorized by the 
applicable COTP to have that vessel make one voyage to transport or 
handle oil in a geographic specific area not covered by the vessel's 
response plan. All requirements of this subpart must be met for any 
subsequent voyages to that geographic specific area. To be authorized, 
the vessel owner or operator shall certify to the COTP in writing, prior 
to the vessel's entry into the COTP zone, that--
    (1) A response plan meeting the requirements of this subpart (except 
for the applicable geographic specific appendix) or a shipboard oil 
pollution emergency plan approved by the flag state that meets the 
requirements of Regulation 26 of Annex I to the International Convention 
for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the 
Protocol of 1978 relating thereto, as amended (MARPOL 73/78) which is 
available from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port 
Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161;
    (2) The approved response plan or the required plan section(s) is 
aboard the vessel;
    (3) The vessel owner or operator has identified and informed the 
vessel master and the COTP of the designated qualified individual prior 
to the vessel's entry into the COTP zone; and
    (4) The vessel owner or operator has identified and ensured the 
availability of, through contract or other approved means, the private 
response resources necessary to respond, to the maximum extent 
practicable under the criteria in Secs. 155.1050, 155.1052, 155.1230, or 
155.2230, as appropriate, to a worst case discharge or substantial 
threat of discharge from the vessel in the applicable COTP zone.