IMO Intervention by Deucalion Rediadis

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Under item 10 of the Agenda, the Committee continued its work towards developing guidance for the proper implementation and application of the IMO liability and compensation conventions. It approved the text of three pamphlets on the Bunkers, CLC and Wreck Removal Conventions, established a correspondence group to review the Guidelines for accepting insurance certificates as contained in IMO’s Circular Letter No. 3464, and resolved to create a new GISIS module entitled “Certificates of insurance” listing points of contact for issuing certificates within each State Party. CMI made a statement to extend its cooperation to IMO on these topics, as well as on the work to assess the need to amend liability the LLMC limits (Agenda item 7). The statement pointed out that CMI has a long history of studying the effective implementation of conventions and working with IMO to that effect, most recently in adopting a unified interpretation of the test for breaking the right to limit under the liability and compensation conventions. CMI further stated that it endorses the thematic priority given by the IMO Legal Committee to increasing the understanding of roles and obligations of all parties involved in these conventions to reduce the risk that polluters and their insurers cannot meet their financial obligations, as envisaged in document LEG 109/13. It would, further, welcome the inclusion, in the Committee’s future biennial agenda, of other topics on which there is scope for further unification in the implementation of the liability and compensation conventions, such as those identified by CMI in a list of 17 substantive issues relating to limitation of liability in maritime law, or indeed beyond these conventions.

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Intervention by Deucalion Rediadis

Other key takeaways from LEG110:

• the IMO’s current pet project is clearly to tackle Fraudulent Registration/Fraudulent Registries, the wrongful exploitation of the IMO identification number and the issues surrounding the “dark” or “shadow” fleet used to circumvent trade sanctions. This includes IMO taking over work towards bringing into force the UN Convention on Conditions for Registration of Ships 1986, which was prepared under the auspices of UNCTAD but is no longer within its remit.

• promoting ratification and implementation of the HNS Protocol 2010 is also a priority as it now needs only six more ratifications with the required contributing cargo in order to enter into force. Βelgium, France and the Netherlands are expected to accede in the course of 2023-24.

LEG 110 was followed on behalf of CMI by Ann Fenech, Tom Birch Reynardson and Deucalion Rediadis.

Αnn made a statement on behalf of CMI under Item 4(c) (Fair Treatment of Seafarers in the event of a maritime accident) and introduced the joint paper by CMI and the UN Office of Legal Affairs on the Beijing Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (under Item 17).