Oil Pollution by Ships and the Adequacy of International Conventions on Compensation

论船舶油污及国际公约对油污赔偿的适当性

Francis Lansakara

《中国海洋法学评论》 13期 (2011/06) Pp. 263-280

摘要

船舶污染的赔偿问题由民事责任公约与基金公约调整。此外，诸如欧盟环境责任指令及美国1990年油污法案等其他民事责任规范也对此问题予以调整。公约自1969年制定以来，不断通过修正案和议定书进一步发展，目前大多数航海国家都是公约的签署国。根据1992年民事责任公约，赔偿覆盖范围仅包括为恢复受损环境而采取的合理措施所产生之费用，不包含因船舶污染事故而产生的利润损失。1992年民事责任公约还在许多情况下赋予船舶所有人免责的权利。直到基金公约经济性损失的赔偿问题才开始被考虑，基金的设立目的即在于帮助那些根据1992年民事责任公约无法获得赔偿或无法获得充分赔偿的受损方。由缔约国的石油买方缴纳摊款所设立的1992年基金和后来的2003年补充基金也对1992年民事责任公约项下的诉求作了赔偿额最高为7.5亿特别提款权的限制。此外，通过一项赔偿请求还需要符合其他相关法律原则，如“合理”与“近因”原则，因而与漏油区域没有直接关联的经济损失无法获得赔偿。欧盟环境责任指令和美国油污法案对赔偿范围的解释倒是采取较为宽松的方式。但是就整体而言，难以突破的船舶所有人责任限制、船舶所有人享有的抗辩权利以及对船舶所有人身份的狭义定义等，都可能影响对依据公约所提起的赔偿请求的认定。通过研究过去的几个案例，可以察知公约项下可能获得的资金以及赔偿请求如何在国际油污公约的指导下获得认可。本文探讨了公约的相关发展、公约对船舶所有人责任的限制、油污赔偿所适用的法律原则以及相关案例的经验与启示，并基于这些探讨的结果，来评估相关国际公约对于船舶油污赔偿规定的适当性。

關鍵字

船舶油污 ； 赔偿 ； 国际公约

並列摘要

Compensation for ship base pollution is covered under Civil Liability Conventions and Fund Conventions. There are also other civil liability instruments such as EU's Environmental Liability Directive CELD) and Oil Pollution Act of USA 1990 COPA). Most maritime nations are signatory to international conventions developed since 1969 with amendments and protocols.Under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention C1992 CLC) compensation is limited to costs incurred for reasonable measures to reinstate the damaged environment, excluding loss of profits. 1992 CLC also gives the owner the right to limit in most cases. Economic damages are being considered under Fund Convention and the Fund was set up to facilitate those unable to get any compensation or adequate compensation from the 1992 CLC. The 1992 Fund and 2003 Supplementary Fund contributed by oil receivers of the contracting states are also limited to maximum of 750 million Special Drawing Rights including claims under 1992 CLC. Other than limitation in funds there are certain legal principles considered when admitting whether a claim is ”reasonable” and ”not too remote”; therefore economic losses not directly connected to an oil spill area are not admissible. However European Environmental Directive CELD) and OPA explain the compensation in a much broader manner. Right to limit liability which is difficult to break, available defense options and, limited definition given in identifying the owner may also affect the admissibility of the claim under the conventions. Review of several cases in the past shows funds available under the Conventions and how claims were admitted under the International Oil Pollution Convention (IOPC) guidelines.This paper discusses related conventions' development, limits imposed, available legal principles on compensation and lessons learnt from past cases and based on their outcome it assesses the adequacy of these conventions on compensation.

並列關鍵字

Oil Pollution by Ships ； Compensation ； International Conventions