Abstract
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international agreements, in particular those concerning the protection of the marine environment against oil pollution, provide for an individual liability of polluters. There has been an increasing trend to hold individuals or corporations liable for oil pollution damage. No such trend exists in respect of State liability, neither subsidiary in cases where the individual polluter does not provide compensation, nor in cases where environmental damage results from the violation of a State’s own non-compliance of international environmental obligations. In respect of the latter general international law on state responsibility is of relevance.1
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References
For further details see Dahm/Delbrück/Wolfrum, Völkerrecht, Vol. I/3 (2nd ed. 2002) 873 et seq.
The agreements are reproduced in: Gehring/Jachtenfuchs, Haftung und Umwelt, (1989) 267 et seq.; for details see Bussek, Schutz der Meere vor Verschmutzung, (1993) 666 et seq.; Bornheim, Haftung für Grenzüberschreitende Umweltbeeinträchtigung im Völkerrecht und Internationalem Privatrecht (1995) 96 et seq. For a more detailed description of the voluntary liability agreements for compensation of oil pollution damage see Wolfrum/Langenfeld, Environmental Protection by Means of International Liability Law, Berichte 6/99 (1999) 20 et seq.; Langenfeld/Minnerop, Environmental Liability Provisions in International Law, in: Environmental Liability in International Law — Towards a Coherent Conception, ed. by Wolfrum/Langenfeld/Minnerop, Berichte 2/05 (2005) 3.
Langenfeld/ Minnerop (Note 2 supra) 5 et seq.
For a comparison between the international and the US regimes regulating oil pollution liability compensation see Noqinho Kim, Marine Policy 27 (2003) 265 et seq. The owner of a seagoing vessel that carries oil as a bulk cargo is liable, regardless of fault, for pollution damage caused by oil escaping from or released from the vessel.
On this subject (although dealing with European Law), see Maes, Estimating Damages under the 2004 EC Directive on Environmental Liability, in: Marine Damage Assessment, ed. by Maes (2005) 3 et seq.
Messina Appeals Court 24 December 1993, Summary of the Judgement in: RECIEL 1995, 341–2. See also: Maffay, Compensation for Ecological Damage in the Patmos Case, in: International Responsibility for Environmental Harm, ed. by Francioni/Skowatsi (1991) 381 et seq.
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Wolfrum, R. (2007). Maritime Pollution — Compensation or Enforcement?. In: Basedow, J., Magnus, U. (eds) Pollution of the Sea — Prevention and Compensation. Hamburg Studies on Maritime Affairs, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73396-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73396-6_10
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