Decisión nº: 000981

In February 1999 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee noted that the shipowner/insurer intended to resist a claim by the Instituto para el Control y la Conservación de la Cuenca del Lago de Maracaibo (ICLAM), part of the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources for costs incurred in monitoring the clean-up, since they disputed liability on the grounds that ICLAM was an agency of the Republic of Venezuela and that the incident was substantially caused by negligence imputable to the Republic of Venezuela. The Committee agreed that the general provisions on contributory negligence in the 1969 Civil Liability Convention (Article III.3) and the 1971 Fund (Article 4.3) were different in that the 1971 Fund could not invoke contributory negligence in respect of preventive measures. The Committee therefore considered that if ICLAMS’s claim related to costs which fell within the definition of ‘preventive measures’ the 1971 Fund would not be entitled to invoke contributory negligence. The Committee instructed the Director to give more detailed information on ICLAM’s claim so as to enable it to determine whether it fell within the definition of ‘preventive measures’.

Categoría: Aplicación de los Convenios
Subject: Exoneración de la responsabilidad de los Fondos de 1971 y de 1992 en virtud del artículo 4.3 de los Convenios de los Fondos de 1971 y de 1992