Decision ID: 003504

In June 2008 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee considered whether the 1992 Fund should take recourse action against the Greek State to recover the amounts that the 1992 Fund would have to pay in compensation in respect of the Slops incident. It was noted that the Greek Supreme Court had in June 2006 held that the Slops should be regarded as a ‘ship’ as defined in the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions. It was also noted that in the Director’s view the Greek authorities should have ensured that the Slops carried insurance as required under Article VII.1 of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention but that the Greek authorities had permitted the Slops to trade without a certificate of insurance in contravention of Article VII.10. It was further noted that the total amount claimed as a result of this incident was well below the estimated limit of liabilty applying to the Slops under Article V of that Convention, that it appeared however that the shipowner was financially incapable of meeting his obligations under the Convention and that as a result the 1992 Fund would have to pay compensation which would have otherwise been covered by the Slops’ insurer and would therefore suffer a loss. During the Committee’s deliberations doubts were however expressed as to whether a recourse action was justified in this particular case. It was submitted that given the Executive Committee’s decision in July 2000 that the Slops was not a ship under the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions and that the 1992 Conventions did not therefore apply to this incident, it would not be consistent for the 1992 Fund to pursue a recourse action against the Greek State on the gorunds that the Slops was a ‘ship’. The Executive Committee instructed the Director to examine this matter further, taking into account all the policy implications, in particular the earlier decisions by the 1992 Fund governing bodies regarding the definition of ‘ship’ and to report to the Committee at its October 2008 session.