CMI on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships at LEG111
Tom Birch Reynardson and Henrik Ringbom presented a Summary of the research of the CMI International Working Group on MASS in relation to liability issues.
There was broad appreciation shown by the Committee for the work undertaken by the CMI and the importance of having uniformity on issues of liability related to damages involving Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships.
There was also broad agreement that this was a subject which would have to be considered in depth preferably after having the benefit of the MASS Code which should be completed by LEG 112.
Why has CMI produced this paper?
The CMI has been working with IMO on issues relating to MASS since 2017 when the CMI submitted a paper discussing the impact of MASS on a number of IMO Conventions. This work was followed by a submission to LEG (LEG 107/8) being an analysis of conventions under the purview of LEG in the context of MASS, and a submission to MSC (MSC 102/5/16) being a similar analysis of conventions under the purview of the MSC.
The work which has been undertaken by CMI on liability was suggested by the Joint Working Group, and the summary which the CMI has submitted is a working paper, which is intended to highlight some of the issues which arise because of the step change in the navigation and control of a ship as a result of the introduction of autonomous technology.
As is made clear in the paper, it is not a blueprint for a particular approach to liability. It merely attempts to highlight that, because of the introduction of MASS technology to ships, the current liability regime should be looked at by the maritime community with new eyes and decisions made as to whether the liability regime can remain the same, or whether it will need some modification.
Why should the LEG be considering this?
The CMI considers that the introduction of new technology which may include critical decision making creates new legal elements which will undoubtably have an impact on the current liability regime. The existing approach to vicarious liability, for example, and fault will need to be addressed.
These issues are real and important, and once ships have been authorised to operate without the continuous oversight of crew members the question of liability will arise, and without a proper analysis of the current liability regime at this stage there may be gaps which will prove to be unsatisfactory. There is also a risk that countries will adopt their own rules making it more difficult to create uniformity.
It is important that there is uniformity in the approach to liability in the context of MASS, and CMI is of the view that this Committee is ideally placed to tackle the liability issue.
These answers were prepared by Tom Birch Reynardson who was present and provided contributions at the CMI LEG111.
The paper below is the Paper submitted by the CMI throughout the Legal Committee 111 at the IMO.