Decision ID: 001778

In October 2005 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in September 2005 the Commercial Court in Lorient had rendered a judgement in respect of three claims by businesses letting sailing boats to tourists in respect of losses in 2001, all three having been compensated by the Fund for losses in 2000, but having their claims for 2001 rejected, since there was not, in the Fund’s view, a sufficient link of causation between the alleged losses and the contamination. The Committee noted that the Court had stated that it was not bound by the Fund’s admissibility criteria, which were internal to the Fund, and that it was for the Court to interpret the concept of ‘pollution damage’ in the 1992 Conventions and to apply it by determining whether there was a sufficient link of causation between the event that lead to the damage and the damage. It was noted, however, that the Court had held that the facts had not been established and had appointed an expert to assess whether the claimants had suffered losses in the period covered by their respective claims compared to previous years and, if so, whether the losses were due to the pollution resulting from the incident.