Prestige concern

At a meeting of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPCF), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has strongly criticised the judgment of the Spanish Supreme Court in The Prestige. This judgment (in January 2016) overturned that of a lower Spanish court, instead finding the master criminally liable for damages to the environment and sentencing him to two years’ imprisonment. It further held the misconduct deprived the shipowner of the right to limit liability for pollution damage under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention (CLC). In a formal statement to governments which oversee the global oil pollution compensation regime via the IOPCF, ICS stressed its immediate concern was the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision for the unwarranted criminalisation of seafarers. But ICS also noted this decision may now be deployed to break the shipowner’s right to limit its financial liability under the CLC.