Decision ID: 002219

In October 1981 the 1971 Fund Assembly, recalling that under Article 5.3 of the 1971 Fund Convention the 1971 Fund was exonerated wholly or partially from its obligations to indemnify the shipowner and his guarantor if the ship from which the oil causing pollution damage escaped did not comply with the requirements laid down in certain instruments referred to in Article 5.3 (a), decided to replace the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (1974 SOLAS Convention), by the 1978 SOLAS Protocol, to the extent that the Protocol contained amendments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention, to take effect on 1 May 1982. The Assembly agreed that amendments to be adopted by IMCO’s Maritime Safety Committee with regard to the 1974 SOLAS Convention could not be regarded as being of an ‘important nature’ as defined in Article 5.3 (a) (v) of the 1971 Fund Convention and would not therefore automatically become relevant for the purpose of exoneration of the 1971 Fund from its obligation to indemnify the shipowner and his guarantor under Article 5.3 of the Fund Convention.