The principal item on the Agenda of the recent meeting of the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)1 was the adoption of a Protocol to the Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in connection with the carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances 1996 (“the HNS Convention”). At the end of the debates a final text was adopted which will shortly be submitted to a diplomatic conference, hopefully in the spring of 2010. This is a major step in the adoption of a Convention which has had an exceptionally long history.