Introduction The new Regulations of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Ships promulgated by the PRC State Council on 9 September 2009 took effect on 1 March 2010. Article 33 of the regulation imposed a requirement that the owners/operators of (a) any ship carrying polluting and hazardous cargoes in bulk or (b) any other vessel above 10,000 gt enter into a pollution clean-up contract with a Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) approved Ship Pollution Response Organisation ("SPRO") before the vessel enters a PRC port This application of this requirement was postponed and came into force on 1 January 2012. The Regulations initially required all SPROs to be approved by the MSA. A list of approved SPROs, including Consortia and Agents, was published by the MSA and regularly updated. Click on the link "Annex I" found on this page to find an English version of the latest list. The revised Regulations have removed the requirement on SPRO approval by the China MSA. Instead there is a new supervision and examination procedure by the local MSAs. SPROs are also required to publish their capabilities, resources and service area for access by the public. More information is available in the International Group Circular published on 1 June 2015.   International Group FAQs   IG FAQs - Updated 8 January 2014   Circulars   International Group Circular issued on 25 February 2020   International Group Circular issued on 1 June 2015   International Group Circular issued on 9 December 2014   International Group Circular issued on 21 December 2012   International Group Circular issued on 22 November 2012   Members' alert issued on 23 December 2011   International Group Circular issued on 6 December 2011   International Group Circular issued on 11 November 2011   International Group Circular issued on 22 August 2011   International Group Circular i