Compensation For Oil Pollution Damage Research Articles

Legal advice on the Chinese compensatory fund system for oil pollution damage caused by ships from the perspective of marine environmental governance

As one of the primary obstructive factors for marine environmental governance, the frequent occurrence of oil pollution damage caused by ships has resulted in the establishment of compensation funds, such as the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund of the United States, Ship Oil Pollution Fund of Canada and International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPC). Frequently suffering from marine oil pollution, China has extended considerable effort in marine environmental governance. Following the introduction of the ‘green principle’ into the Civil Code, China attached increasing significance to the legislation including compensation for oil pollution damage caused by ships. China formally established a compensation fund in 2012, and the past decade has witnessed the burgeoning development of the Chinese Ship-source Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (CSOPC), in addition to several defects which impede the fund from achieving the goal of marine environmental governance. As a national fund that is independent of the IOPC, the CSOPC adopts several regulations that are distinctive from internationally recognized practice; for instance, not recognizing pure economic loss within the scope of compensation. Such unique parameters, though partially originating from the national conditions in China, have resulted in glaring defects, including incomplete compensation scope and inappropriate compensation measures. Given the above problems, this study endeavours to provide several legal recommendations from the perspective of macro policies for improving the top-level design of the system, enhancing oil pollution compensation capabilities, and promoting the internationalization process. The study proposes two potential regulatory paths for innovation; namely, enlarging the range of compensation and establishing an essential emergency fund. From the perspective of protecting the rights of the victims of oil pollution damage and safeguarding the public interests of the ocean, this study puts forward relevant legal suggestions, which are expected to make valuable contributions to improving the compensation system for oil pollution damage caused by ships in China and promoting the governance of the marine environment.

Legal regulation of liability for environmental pollution in the carriage of dangerous goods by sea

The article considers the international legal norms and legislation of Ukraine in the field of responsibility for pollution of the marine environment during the transportation of dangerous goods, the main trends in the development of maritime navigation and environmental protection.
 The concept and essence of ecological safety of the World Ocean is defined.
 The author considers the main provisions of the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine "On Transportation of Dangerous Goods", as well as international norms contained in the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution (1969), the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (1971), the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (1976), the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Dangerous and Harmful Substances by Sea (1996), the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (1973).
 The above regulations contain recommendations and regulate the liability of the shipowner for damage from oil pollution from ships, release of the shipowner from liability for damage from pollution by oil and other harmful substances from ships, intent or gross negligence of the victim in cases of oil pollution. or more vessels for damage from pollution, the issue of limiting the liability of the shipowner for damage from pollution, loss of the right to limit liability for damage from pollution by hazardous substances from ships, as well as insurance and other financial support for liability for damage from pollution from ships.
 The analysis of normative acts of international and domestic legislation allowed to study the conceptual provisions of the problem, as well as to conclude that it is necessary to implement international law in the national legislation of Ukraine on ways to solve the problem of marine pollution from ships.

A study of compulsory insurance for civil liability for oil pollution damage caused by ships: what are the rules for small ships that have no formal obligations under the convention?

ABSTRACT The nature of compulsory insurance for civil liability for oil pollution damage is to ensure that the persons who have suffered loss from oil pollution will be compensated. It always guarantees the availability of indemnification to the victim of oil pollution. Under current international law, tankers of less than 2000 tonnes have no obligation under the International Convention to obtain financial insurance for oil pollution. However, even spills from small tankers could cause significant damage to the environment in a sensitive location. Aware of the problem, some State parties have taken unilateral action through national law to regulate even smaller tankers for the purposes of liability and compensation for oil pollution damage. Within the scope of this article, the author will analyze provisions for compulsory insurance for civil liability for oil pollution damage for small ships that have no obligation under the international convention.

Civil liability for ship -source oil pollution damage: should Vietnam join FUND 1992?

ABSTRACT Currently, international civil liability law has three tiers of compensation for damage caused by ship-source oil pollution, based on The International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992 (CLC 1992), The International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1992 Fund 1992 (FUND 1992) and The Supplementary Fund Protocol. Currently, Vietnam only participated in CLC 1992, so the Vietnamese legal framework for civil liability for harm caused by ships-source oil pollution has been significantly strengthened. However, the compensation for damages is not really consistent with the actual damage that occurred. Besides, the oil spill in Vietnam’s waters is fairly large, for many reasons. Thus, the question arises whether or not Vietnam should join FUND 1992. Based on the analysis of the additions of FUND 1992 compared to CLC 1992, as well as the actual situation, the legal system, the economy of Vietnam, the author will point out the advantages and disadvantages when Vietnam joined FUND 1992.

Environmental crime and judicial rectification of the Prestige oil spill: The polluter pays

The enforcement of institutional rules requires the judicial system to perform well. In the case of oil spills, courts are key actors in determining the allocation of liabilities according to international and national norms. In 2002, the Prestige oil spill led to a major environmental disaster on the coasts of Spain, France and Portugal. The limitations of liability provided by the International Regime of Civil Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage have prevented the polluters from fully compensating injured parties for the damage the spill produced. In 2013, the Spanish Provincial Court of A Coruña condemned the captain of the tanker for disobedience, but no environmental crime was found; therefore, no further civil liabilities were incurred. Nevertheless, in 2016, the Spanish Supreme Court overruled the ruling of the provincial court and proclaimed the existence of an environmental crime. This judicial rectification changed the allocation of liabilities, extended the application of the polluter-pays principle, and opened a different stage for estimating and covering the costs of the damage. This paper presents a highly relevant case study that analyses the new situation involving oil spills and the distribution of liabilities within the current international regime.

Legal Framework for Marine Oil Pollution Control in Tanzania

Tanzania is among the countries in the west of the Indian Ocean. The country is endowed with maritime resources and a considerable coastline of about 1500 Kilometers. The well being of people leaving along the coast depend on the use of resources of the ocean. The country is facing current and potential danger of marine oil pollution caused by ships calling its ports and terminals, ships using the West Indian Ocean route, land based activities, and the developments in offshore oil and gas activities in the country and within East Africa region.In order to achieve sustainable use of the oceans and its resource, this article provide a legal framework for marine oil pollution control in the context of prevention of oil pollution, response to marine pollution incident and compensation for oil pollution damage. Specifically, the article assesses national legislation in the light of international agreements. The article assists in the analysis of the established legal regime and institutional framework for purposes of improving the status of marine oil pollution control.

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW REGARDING SHIP-SOURCE POLLUTION LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION: EVOLUTION AND CURRENT CHALLENGES

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW REGARDING SHIP-SOURCE POLLUTION LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION: EVOLUTION AND CURRENT CHALLENGES

Compensation for oil pollution damage

The commitment of national industries to traditional energy sources, as well as constantly growing energy demand combined with adverse environmental impact of petroleum production and transportation urge to establish and maintain an appropriate legal and administrative framework for oil pollution damage compensation. The article considers management strategies for petroleum companies that embrace not only production benefits but also environmental issues.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION OF OIL POLLUTION FROM VESSEL (A STUDY OF STRAITS MALACCA AND SINGAPORE)

This research is proposed to answer three problem. First, the rules of international law in the protection of the marine environment from oil pollution originating from vessel. Second, efforts were made by the three littoral countries cooperation in preventing, reducing and controlling oil pollution originating from vessel in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Third, the role of the government of Indonesia in prevention, reduce and control oil pollution originating from vessel in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This research is normative research using qualitative research methods. The research approach using statute approach and case approach. The results of this research shows that international law has been comprehensively regulate the protection of the marine environment from pollution by oil originating ships: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ship (MARPOL) 73/78, International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness 1980, the Civil Liability Convention for Oil Damage (CLC) 1992 and the Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FUND) 1992. Second, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as states bordering the straits cooperate with other stakeholders (user states, user industries, IMO, NGOs) have established a cooperation mechanism in the form of cooperative forums, project coordination committee and the Aids to Navigation Fund. Third, Indonesia through its laws and regulations have ensured the prevention, reduction and control of oil pollution originating from vessel through Act No. 17 of 2008 on Shipping, Government Regulation No. 21 of 2010 on the Protection of Maritime Environment, and Presidential Decree No. 109 in 2006 on Disaster Emergency Due to Oil Spill in the ocean.

Compensation of Oil Spill Victims in Nigeria : The More the Oil , the More the Blood ?

This paper sets out to examine the compensation of oil spill victims in the Nigerian oil industry. The compensation of these victims has become clumsy and dark in the wake of oil Bunkering, pipeline vandalism, sabotage, since in the past, oil spill was as a result of the activities of the oil companies or operators. The object is to discuss who is responsible for payments of compensation to oil spill victims who are entangled in a political system that lacks legislative and administrative guidelines and framework that will effectively deal with the issue of petroleum compensations arising from sabotage, bunkering and even activities of multinational oil companies. Nigeria has become one of the most petroleum-polluted environments in the world. The impact of the oil spill include habitat degradation, pollution from gas flaring and these are cumulative and have acted synergistically with other environmental stresses to impair ecosystems and severely compromise human livelihoods and health. These unfortunate incidents make the victims individuals and host community, landowners, pond owners and other property owners to demand compensation. It is hereby recommended that the Nigerian government should set up oil pollution compensation funds that will make provision for compensation for oil pollution damage resulting from activities of not only multi-national oil companies but that of oil thieves, saboteurs and pipeline vandals. More so, legislations that will protect the environment of host communities and ensure timely adequate and fair compensation to them are to be urgently enacted.

Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage from Ships in China: A Way Toward International Standards

China has made great efforts to establish a compensation system for oil pollution damage from ships. Several laws and regulations have come into effect since 2010 that have brought significant changes to the legal regime of compensation for oil pollution damage. In this article, the new legal regime for compensation for oil pollution damage from ships is examined to illustrate how China is moving closer to the international standard in this area.

C. Turkey

The Adoption of Amendments of the Limitation Amounts in the Protocol of 1992 to amend the 1969 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage was approved by Law 6346 and published in the Resmi Gazete on 10 October. In addition, the Adoption of Amendments of the Limits of Compensation in the 1992 Protocol to amend the 1971 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage was also approved with the same law and published in the Resmi Gazete on 21 October. Turkey continued to ratify some conventions with regard to nuclear issues, partly as a consequence of signing an agreement with the government of the Russian Federation in relation to the construction and operation of the first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site. The 2005 International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism was...

Areios Pagos (Greek Supreme Court: Full Session)

‘‘...The International Convention of Brussels (or CLC on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage) was signed in 1969 for the purpose of facing pollution risks and environmental problems arising from the carriage of oil by the sea and it was ratified by Greece by virtue of Law 314/1976; after the ratification of the 1976, 1984 and 1992 Protocols, this convention is known as the 1992 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (Liability Convention 1992). The provisions of the abovementioned 1992 International Convention were supplemented by the International Fund Convention (Brussels Convention) on the ‘‘Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage’’, which was signed in 1971 and it was ratified by Greece by virtue of Law 1638/1986, through which the Fund obtained legal personality based on contributions that are provided therein. This International Fund Convention was amended subsequently by the 1976 and 1992 Protocols which were ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 270/1995 ‘‘Acceptance of the 1976 and the 1992 Protocols amending the 1971 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage’’. Pursuant to Article 1 of the 1992 International Convention (Liability Convention 1992), ‘‘1 ‘‘Ship’’ means any seagoing vessel and seaborne craft of any type whatsoever constructed or adapted for the carriage of oil in bulk as cargo, provided that a ship capable of carrying oil and other cargoes shall be regarded as a ship only when it is actually carrying oil in bulk as cargo and during any voyage following such carriage unless it is proved that it has no residues of such carriage of oil in bulk aboard’’. Further, in Article 1 of the 1992 Protocol, amending the International Fund Convention it is

What is a ship? The Policy of the International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage: the effect of the Greek Supreme Court judgment in the Slops case

The international compensation regime for oil pollution damage established by the CLC 1992 and the 1992 Fund Convention covers damages caused by discharge of oil from a ship. The definition of a ship under the Conventions has been interpreted by the 1992 Fund as to include floating storage units (FSUs) and floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs) only when they carry oil as cargo on a voyage to or from a port or a terminal, outside the oil field in which they normally operate. Accordingly, the 1992 Fund rejected claims arising from Slops incident, a spill from a waste oil reception facility, formerly a tanker, which remained permanently anchored with its engine being deactivated. However, the Greek Supreme Court in its decision from June 2006 held that Slops falls within the definition of a ‘ship’ under 1992 CLC/Fund Convention. The judgment raises important issues for the functioning of the international compensation system.

THE SHARING OF THE FINANCIAL BURDEN BETWEEN THE SHIPPIING AND OIL INDUSTRIES UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL COMPENSATION REGIMES

ABSTRACT The international regime on liability and compensation for oil pollution damage is based on international Conventions adopted under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). When the international compensation Conventions were first elaborated over thirty years ago in the aftermath of the Torrey Canyon incident, it was decided to establish a two-tier system whereby the economic consequences of marine oil spills from tankers should be shared between the shipping industry and those industries who either owned or received the cargoes transported by sea. Although the limits of liability and compensation under the Conventions have been revised from time to time, the concept of sharing has been maintained. In 2004 the Secretariat of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds undertook a study of the costs of oil spills from tankers worldwide, except the United States, over the past 25 years. The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which the economic consequences of oil spills had been shared by the shipping and oil sectors under the Conventions as envisaged when they were elaborated and under the voluntary industry schemes which coexisted and interacted with the Conventions for much of that time. The results of the study and their impact on any future revisions of the international Conventions, particularly as regards the sharing of the financial burden, are the subject of this paper.

Some Recent Developments regarding Liability for Damage Resulting from Oil Pollution — From the Perspective of an EU Member State

The primary purpose of the Civil Liability Convention, Fund Convention and Supplementary Fund Protocol regime is to ensure prompt and full compensation for oil pollution damage in an internationally uniform manner. This article assesses the effectiveness of the present regime and its relationship with the draft EU Directive on environmental liability before looking at the need for revision of the Conventions.

環境事故と拡張責任

A lot of accidents that cause environmental pollution have happened in recent years, then the public concern with compensation problems for environmental damage, especially the case where the firm that causes the accident can't compensate all of damages, has been growing greatly. The most controversial topic in this problem at present is extending liability, and it has turned to be successful in a number of cases as a mean to find money to compensate properly victims. Therefore, to examine the role of extended liability, I consider an economic activity that involves transportation of environmentally hazardous materials like oil, and then I discuss the problem that under which conditions how extending liability of the buyer and the seller of the materials effects on social welfare, when the carrier can't compensate all of damages because of his cash (assets) constraint. Namely, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of extended liability on economic activity that involves environmental risk and to design optimal extended liability rule. For another, I also try to compare the efficiency between optimal rule that derived in this paper and other rule that adopted in the real world, for example with respect to oil pollution damage, under the following rules: International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC), and International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FC).

Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage: Some Current Threats to the International Convention System

The carriage of oil is indispensable to the industrialized nations. In this respect, the carriage of oil is undertaken as a service to society as a whole with its individual members deriving benefits from its carriage to varying degrees. Consequently, after examining the four Conventions in the international system of compensation for oil pollution from ships, it is argued that the general citizenship of those nations pay, in exceptional cases, for a small share of the risk, which is created in part by the citizens, as users of oil. The paper proposes the creation of a fund of last resort that could be conceived either at a regional level or a national level and financed through (indirect) taxation on the population as a whole. This type of fund could have a wider use in the field of marine pollution and protection of marine resources.

The international regime of compensation for oil pollution damage and the policy of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds as to the admissibility of claims

This article describes the international regime governing compensation for oil pollution damage from ships. It sets out the main features of the relevant international Conventions, the Civil Liability Conventions and the Fund Conventions, and explains the operations of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, their structure and financing. The procedure for settlement of compensation of claims is outlined and a summary is made of the criteria for the admissibility of claims for compensation. The ongoing review of the international compensation regime is described.

THE INTERNATIONAL COMPENSATION SYSTEM IN A PERIOD OF TRANSFORMATION

ABSTRACT Two international treaties elaborated under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO)—the 1969 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (1969 Civil Liability Convention) and the 1971 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (1971 Fund Convention)—established the international regime of compensation. These Conventions were revised by Protocols in 1992, and the revised Conventions, known as the 1992 Conventions, are intended to replace the original ones. The Civil Liability Conventions govern the liability of the shipowner, whereas the Fund Conventions provide for supplementary compensation through two intergovernmental organizations, the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, financed by a levy on oil receipts in Member nations. A number of nations has ratified the 1992 Conventions and denounced the original 1969/1971 Conventions, but a number of other nations has not yet done so. After the denunciation by a number of nations whose oil industries are major contributors to the system, the old regime soon will be reaching a point where it is no longer financially viable. It is therefore important that the 1971 Fund Convention be terminated as soon as possible. It is likely that the maximum amount of compensation available under the 1992 Conventions (at present some US$180 million) will increase to some US$270 million as of November 1, 2003. In view of the experience of recent major incidents, the question has been raised as to whether the 1992 Conventions should be reassessed to ensure that the international regime continues to meet the needs of society.