There have been three attempts to achieve international uniformity of the law on limitation of liability for maritime claims with Conventions in 1924, 1957 and 1976, of which the 1957 Limitation Convention and the 1976 Limitation Convention are the most important. Although the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 (the 1976 Limitation Convention2) is in force, it has not replaced the 1957 Limitation Convention, which still has more States Parties.3 It took 10 years for the 1976 Limitation Convention to enter into force and even by then the limits of liability could be said to have become out of date. Within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) work was underway in the 1980s and 1990s to increase limits of liability in the pollution Conventions. This work saw the introduction of the 1992 Protocols to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969 (CLC 1969) and to the International Convention on the Establishment of a Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971 (the Fund Convention 1971). These Conventions are now in force internationally and in the UK.4

From 1992 attention was paid to producing a new Convention on liability for hazardous and noxious substances other than oil. This work had started long before, but it proved