ABSTRACT

In the case of oil tanker spills, the 1969 Civil Liability and 1971 Fund Conventions as amended in 1992 by two Protocols69 govern the liability of ship and cargo owners for oil pollution damage. They laid down the principle of strict liability and established a system of compulsory liability insurance. The provision of strict liability is subject to limits, which are in turn linked to the tonnage of the ship.70 The implications of such definitive external controls on corporate decision-making processes within the oil industry are clear: The preventive approach (see p 49, above) becomes not merely a legal but also an economic imperative for companies in this industrial sector. Moreover, the polluter pays principle is being applied directly at the international level, thus bypassing the usual systemic requirement for national or domestic implementation of internationally agreed rules.71 However, despite the continuing success of these relatively comprehensive civil

liability regimes, a recent appraisal concludes that ‘(T)here is substantial room for improvement in the international ship-source oil pollution compensation regimes’.72