Study On The Liable Party For Oil Pollution Damage Resulting From Collision Of Ships

At shipping practice, these accidents which one ship leaking oil leading oil pollution damage caused by collision of ships all in fault occur frequently. After the accident, determining the subject of liabilities for compensation of oil pollution damage is significant. But at present stage, there is no special civil legislation of compensation for oil pollution damage in China. However, China is a State party of International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage,1992(hereinafter referred to as 1992 CLC),and International Convention on Civil Liability For Bunker Oil Pollution Damage,2001 (hereinafter referred to as Bunker Convention). As a result, it causes the situation that the conventions and the relative national legislations exist at the same time, and the application of law is very confusion in the judicial practice of oil pollution damage, which needs to be solved urgently.In this paper, analysis of the subject of liabilities for compensation of oil pollution damage caused by collision of ships, the judicial practice and two other proposals proposed by the Draft Judicial Interpretation for Oil Pollution Damage of the Supreme Court in November 2010 have been discussed based on legal theory, civil law theory, and by the methods of economic analysis of law, interest balance analysis. The conclusion is that:the victim of oil pollution damage caused by collision of ships all in fault, may either claim against the leaking party for all compensation of oil pollution damage in accordance with the law of oil pollution damage compensation, or claim against the non-leaking party to the extent of the proportion of its faults in collision in accordance with the law of collision of ships. The victim's two claims will be overlapped to extent that the non-leaking party shall be liable in proportion to the extent of its faults in collision.This paper consists of four chapters with the main content of each as follows:Chapter 1-Summary introduction of the subject of liabilities for compensation of ship collision damage and the subject of liabilities for compensation of oil pollution damage, enumerated and analyzed the subject of liabilities for compensation prescribed in the laws of both domestic and abroad.Chapter 2 - Analysis of the subject of liabilities for compensation of oil pollution damage caused by collision of ships. The compensation of collision damage and the compensation of oil pollution damage are two independent legal system, the victim's two claims will be overlapped to extent that the non-leaking party shall be liable in proportion to the extent of its fault in collision.Chapter 3 - Analysis of the rationality of the competition of the claims for oil pollution damage compensation caused by collision of ships by the methods of economic analysis of law and interest balance analysis.Chapter 4 - Discussion on three kinds of judicial practice in China and two other proposals proposed in the Draft Judicial Interpretation for Oil Pollution Damage of the Supreme Court in November 2010 in relation with the subject of liabilities for compensation of oil pollution damage caused by collision of ships. Finally, the legislative suggestion on the subject of liabilities for compensation of oil pollution damage in China is proposed.