Decision ID: 001420

In February 2003 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee recalled that the classification societies RINA Spa and Registro Italiano Navale had brought legal action in the Court of Syracusa (Italy) against the shipowner, his insurer, the 1992 Fund and others, requesting the Court to declare that they were not liable for the sinking of the Erika and for the pollution of the French coast.The Committe noted that the Court of Cassation had rendered its decision in October 2002 in respect of an action by the Fund and others under a special procedure, declaring that the Italian courts lacked jurisdiction on the grounds that Article IX of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention conferred exclusive jurisdiction on the courts of the State where the pollution damage was caused.