EU Countries Seek Higher Compensation For Oil Spills
European Union countries are to push for higher compensation levels to cover oil tanker accidents, diplomats at a transport ministers' meeting said on Thursday. The ministers will finalize a negotiating stance when they next meet in June in order to be ready for International Oil Pollution Fund (IOPF) negotiations in October, a Swedish official told reporters. During the closed-door discussions there was relatively little support for the EU to set up its own compensation fund to supplement the IOPF, an idea that has been proposed by the European Commission and is supported by France, diplomats said. The Commission proposed an EU fund that would raise liability to a maximum of one billion euros ($901.7 million) from the IOPF's current 200 million-euro ($807.7 million) ceiling.
Supplementary Fund for Compensation for
Increased levels of compensation will be available for victims of oil pollution from oil tanker accidents, following the ratification by Spain (on Friday 3rd December) of the 2003 Protocol establishing an International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund. Spain's ratification means the instrument has now reached the entry into force criteria (ratification by at least eight States who have received a combined total of 450 million tons of contributing oil) set at its adoption by a diplomatic conference held at IMO Headquarters in London in May 2003. The new Fund will come into existence on 3 March 2005, three months after the date of Spain's ratification.
New Rules for Oil Spill Compensation Enter Force
Increased levels of compensation will be available for victims of oil pollution from oil tanker accidents on 3 March 2005 with the entry into force of the 2003 Protocol establishing an International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund. The Fund will supplement the compensation available under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention (CLC) and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FUND), with an additional, third tier of compensation. Participation is optional and is open to all States which are parties to the 1992 Fund Convention. The total amount of compensation payable for any one incident will be limited to a combined total of 750 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR) (just over US$1…
