Decision ID: 000684

In October 1996 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee considered a claim by Wales Tourist Board relating to promotional activities designed to reduce the impact of negative publicity in the aftermath of the incident and to rebuild the image of the area prior to the beginning of the 1996 tourist season. The Committee decided that claim items relating to the short-term employment of a specialist crisis management agency to advise on and implement initial public relations activities, the sponsorship of supplements in regional newspapers targeting day and short break visitors and a radio campaign directed to target market areas in the United Kingdom, fulfilled the criteria for admissibility of claims for costs of measures to prevent or minimise pure economic loss and that these items were therefore admissible in principle. As regards a claim item relating to extra costs in promoting the environmental quality of the coast as well as the quality of the seawater to highlight the success of the clean-up, the Committee took the view that there was insufficient information at that stage to enable it to decide whether this item was admissible.