Decision ID: 000934

In October 1998 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee considered the question as to whether the grounding of the unladen tanker fell within the definition of ‘incident’ under Article I.8 of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention. The Committee noted that the vessel had been refloated without any bunker fuel having been spilled, but that a claim had been submitted for the cost of mobilisation of oil combating equipment and surveillance aircraft to respond to a possible escape of persistent bunker oil. The Committee, recalling that the 1992 Conventions applied to the costs of pre-spill preventive measures even if no spill occurred, provided there was a grave and imminent threat of pollution damage, concluded that there had been such a grave and imminent threat and that therefore the 1992 Conventions did apply in principle to this incident, subject to the usual admissibility criterion that the response measures were reasonable from an objective technical point of view.