Decision ID: 001676

In March 2005 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee considered the applicability of the 1992 Conventions to the incident, the circumstances of which, and the position taken by the Russian Courts, had been brought to the Committee’s attention by the International Group of P&I Clubs. It was noted that the OBO Nefterudovoz-57M, which was classed for river and sea navigation, had struck a tanker in the outer roads of Onega, White Sea spilling an unknown quantity of heavy fuel oil. It was noted that a claim for environmental damages based on a theoretical model had been referred to the Arkhangel Arbitration Court, which had dismissed the shipowner’s argument that compensation should be governed by the 1992 Conventions, which excluded claims based on theoretical models. It was noted that in a judgement in April 2004 the Court had found against the shipowner and held that, since the vessel was undertaking deliveries of oil products in internal waters of the Russian Federation, the calculation of the amount of the losses should be carried out under the rules of the Russian Federation and not under the rules of international law or the provisions of international treaties. The Committee noted that the shipowner had appealed to the Appeal Court of Arkhangel and then to the Court of Cassation in St Petersburg, both of which upheld the ruling of the first instance Court. The Committee considered that the 1992 Civil Liability Convention should have applied to the incident and that had the Convention been applied, claims based on theoretical models would not have been admissible.

Date: 01.03.2005
Categories: Application of the Conventions, Environmental damage, Legal actions
Subjects: Application of the 1992 Conventions to inland waters, including non-tidal reaches of rivers, Claims for compensation outside the Conventions, Uniform application of the Conventions, Claims based on abstract quantification of damage, Judgements in respect of the application of the Conventions