Decision ID: 003657

In October 2009 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that shortly after the incident the Russian authorities had imposed an administrative sanction on the shipowner for having caused pollution damage in breach of Russian law and that the shipowner had appealed against the fine before the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar. It was noted that in February 2008 the Arbitration Court had rejected the appeal and had confirmed the sanction. It was also noted that in its reasoning the Court had stated that no evidence had been provided that the storm on 11 November 2007 had a special or abnormal character, that the incident was not unavoidable and that the master had not taken all possible measures to avoid the breaking of the vessel and the pollution. The Executive Committee noted that it could be inferred from this decision that the Court had considered that this was not a case of force majeure.