Research On The Liability System For Oil Pollution Damage Caused By Ship Collisions In China

In recent years,frequent cases of oil pollution damage caused by ship collisions have caused serious damage to the marine environment.At present,China has not yet established a systematic system of liability for oil pollution caused by ship collision.The relevant provisions are scattered in the current laws,judicial interpretation and administrative regulations.The theories involved behind are complex,and there are great differences in theory and practice.On the one hand,in terms of academic theory,the paper clarifies that the case involves both ship collision and ship oil pollution legal relationships,and combines the theory of equivalent causality and joint infringement to draw the conclusion that the oil pollution victim has two claims based on different legal relationships and there is competition.On the basis of competing claims,a legal and economic model is established using the Hande formula to analyze the issue of balancing the interests of all parties in the case.On the other hand,in practice,through a review of relevant domestic legislation and judicial precedents,using the balance of interests among all parties under the Hande formula as the analysis path,it has been found that there are mainly four problems in China’s liability system for oil pollution damage caused by ship collisions: firstly,in terms of the system of liability principles,what kind of liability principles should be applied between ships that have collided,Especially in the case of both non oil spill and oil spill vessels after a collision,there is controversy;Secondly,in terms of liability limitation and oil pollution fund system,the legislation related to China’s Maritime Law started relatively late and the legal regulations are not perfect enough;Thirdly,in the current law of our country,the relevant definitions of the scope of compensation for oil pollution damage and the responsible party are slightly lagging behind;Fourthly,in judicial practice,the legal application of such cases is relatively chaotic,including the issue of whether international conventions can be applied to domestic cases and the issue of the applicable law for foreign-related cases occurring in China’s maritime areas.In response to the above issues,the paper examined international conventions,relevant regulations of the United States and Canada,and drew on their excellent legislative experience to propose suggestions for improving China’s liability system for oil pollution damage caused by ship collisions.Firstly,in the design of liability principles for each ship,based on theories such as competing claims,combined with the legislative spirit of international conventions,different liability principles and systems are adopted for non oil spill ships and oil spill ships;Secondly,drawing on feasible experiences from foreign laws and international conventions,we will improve China’s oil pollution fund system;Once again,based on China’s legislation and judicial practice,the ecological value of the marine environment should be fully included in the scope of damage compensation,and the scope of the responsible subject should be appropriately expanded;Finally,considering that China’s current legislative background and oil import and export formats are similar to those of Canada,a parallel regulatory system of domestic law and international conventions can be implemented based on the Canadian model.In principle,it is prohibited to apply international conventions to domestic cases of oil pollution damage caused by ship collisions,and the principle of prioritizing the application of international conventions to such foreign-related cases occurring in China’s maritime areas is clarified.