Decision ID: 001826

In March 2006 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in October 2005 the Commercial Court in Lorient had rendered a judgement in respect of a claim by a meat wholesaler for losses allegedly suffered in 2000 due to the incident, which had been rejected by the Fund on the grounds that the claimant’s business did not provide goods and services directly to tourists and that therefore there had not been a sufficient link of causation between the loss and the pollution. The Committee noted that the Court had stated that it was not bound by the Fund’s admissibility criteria and that it was for the Court to interpret the concept of ‘pollution damage’. It was noted that although the Court had held that a distinction should not be made between claimants who provided goods and services directly to tourists and claimants who provided them indirectly to tourists, it nevertheless rejected the claim on the grounds that the claimant’s turnover had increased in 2000 and that he had therefore not proved any loss.