Decision ID: 001499

In October 2003 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee considered the applicability of the 1992 Conventions to the incident, which had occurred on the Volga River, some 1,300 km from the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov. It was noted that the Victoriya was registered by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping for river and sea navigation, that it had not been adapted or appropriated for trading exclusively in rivers and that it still operated regularly as a sea-going vessel. The Committee noted that Article II (a) (i) of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and Article 3 (a) of the 1992 Fund Convention provided that the Conventions applied exclusively to pollution damage caused in the territory, including the territorial sea, of a Contracting State and that under general principles of public international law, the concept of ‘territory’ of a State covered inland waters, including rivers. The Executive Committee decided that the 1992 Conventions were applicable to the incident, since the Victoriya was a sea-going vessel and the pollution damage had occurred in the territory of a Contracting State.