Decision ID: 001152

In July 2000 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee considered the question of the level of the 1992 Fund’s payments in the light of the results of an extensive study carried out within the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry on the extent of the damage caused by the incident on the tourism industry and estimates by the Fund’s experts of the total losses in the fisheries and tourism sectors as well as clean-up costs. The Committee noted that for the purpose of its consideration of the level of the Fund’s payments the claims by Total Fina and the French Government could be disregarded, since these claims would be pursued only if and to the extent that all other claims had been paid in full. In view of the uncertainty as to the total amount of the claims the Committee decided that the payments by the 1992 Fund should for the time being be limited to 50% of the amount of the loss or damage actually suffered by the respective claimants as assessed by the Fund’s experts. The Committee also decided that the level of payments should be reviewed at its 9th (October 2000) session in the light of further information as to the likely level of claims.