States, acting through the competent international organisation or general diplomatic conference, shall establish international rules and standards to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from vessels and promote the adoption, in the same manner, wherever appropriate, of routeing systems designed to minimise the threat of accidents which might cause pollution of the marine environment, including the coastline, and pollution damage to the related interests of coastal States.
Države prek pristojne mednarodne organizacije ali na splošni diplomatski konferenci določijo mednarodna pravila in standarde za preprečevanje, zmanjševanje in nadziranje onesnaževanja morskega okolja z ladij; na enak način, kjer je to ustrezno, pa tudi spodbujajo sprejetje plovnih sistemov, s katerimi naj bi se zmanjšale nevarnosti pred nezgodami, ki bi utegnile povzročiti onesnaženje morskega okolja in tudi obale, ter škoda z onesnaženjem, ki bi utegnila prizadeti s tem povezane interese obalnih držav.