WRITTEN QUESTION E-1262/03 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Amendment of the international compensation and liability mechanism under the International Convention on Civil Liability.
Date: 2003-04-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: civil liability, indemnification, international convention, marine pollution, maritime safety, oil pollution, polluter pays principle

C 280 E/122

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

21.11.2003

The Commission wishes to remind him that a report on action to deal with the effects of the Prestige
disaster was adopted on 5 March 2003. This report concerns past, present and future actions undertaken
at Community level in order to remedy the consequences of the Prestige disaster and to prevent similar
accidents from occurring in the future. It has been submitted to the European Council of 21 March 2003.

(1) Written reply, 11.3.2003.
(2) OJ C 242 E, 9.10.2003, p. 63.

(2003/C 280 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1262/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(3 April 2003)

Subject: Amendment of the international compensation and liability mechanism under the International

Convention on Civil Liability

In the communication from the Commission to the Council of 5 March 2003 (1) on action to deal with the
effects of the Prestige disaster, the Commission proposes amending the international compensation and
liability mechanism under the International Convention on Civil Liberty in order to make the parties
responsible for pollution financially liable.

What progress has been made on this initiative? What measures have the Member States taken in this
connection?

(1) COM(2003) 105 final.

Reply

(22 July 2003)

The Council has on several occasions in recent years expressed its support for a possible revision of the
Civil Liability Convention (CLC) of 1992, which governs the liability of shipowners for oil pollution
damage. Already in its conclusions on maritime safety from December 2000, the Council called on
Member States to consider possible amendments to the applicable rules in order to render parties other
than shipowners liable, as well as the introduction of unlimited liability of shipowners in the event of
severe or deliberate infringement of their safety obligations. Similarly, in the common approach it took in
June 2001 with a view to the negotiations in the framework of
the International Oil Pollution
Compensation Fund (IOPCF) on the establishment of a supplementary oil pollution compensation fund
for the victims of oil pollution, the Council acknowledged the need for a broad examination of the issues
of liability and compensation from parties concerned to compensate for oil pollution damage and stated
that Member States should support and participate actively in the review of the 1992 regime.

More recently, the European Council of Brussels on 21 March 2003 specifically called for an increase of
the liability of maritime transport operators through the amendment of the relevant provisions of the CLC.
Finally, the Council
(Transport, Telecommunications and Energy) on 27 March 2003 underlined the
importance of the polluter-payer-principle in this context.

Against this background, Member States are actively taking part in the review of the present compensation
and liability regime, in particular in the Working Group established to this end by the Assembly of the
IOPCF in April 2000. No deadline, however, has been set for the adoption of possible modifications.

On the occasion of the meeting of the Working Group which place in February 2003, two Member States
and the European Commission submitted a proposal for a modification of the present liability regime,
introducing the possibility to breach the threshold for the loss of a shipowner’s right to limit his liability in
cases where an actual fault on behalf of the owner has been established and to channel liability to others
than the shipowner. In a second document, a Member State recommended a revision of the CLC following

21.11.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 280 E/123

a two-pronged approach, consisting in a return to strict channelling involving liability for others than the
registered owner and an increase of the owners’ financial obligations concerning the financing of the
proposed supplementary oil pollution compensation fund. These proposals will now form part of the
future debates of the Working Group. Its next meeting is scheduled to take place in October 2003.

(2003/C 280 E/141)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1265/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(3 April 2003)

Subject: Outcome of the Transport Council’s decision of December 2002 on the conclusion of agreements

by the States with their respective industries

A decision was taken at the Transport Council of December 2002 on the conclusion of agreements by the
States with their respective industries to ensure quality shipping and ban the transport of heavy fuel oil in
single-hull tankers.

What has been the outcome of this decision? What agreements have been entered into in the various
States with their industries?

Reply

(22 July 2003)

As the Honourable Member of the European Parliament rightly noted, the Council conclusions on ships’
safety and pollution prevention, adopted on 6 December 2002 in response to the Prestige accident, urged
Member States to enter into agreements with their respective industries to ensure quality shipping and
eliminate older single hulled vessels transporting the heavy grades of oil and invited the Commission to
develop a model agreement to this end.

The Commission, however, deemed it more appropriate to include the ban of transport of heavy grades of
oil in single hull tankers into its proposal for an amendment of Regulation 417/2002 on the accelerated
phasing in of double hull or equivalent design requirements for single hull oil tankers, presented to the
European Parliament and the Council on 20 December 2002, with a view to ensuring a uniform
implementation throughout the Community.

The Council has followed the Commission’s reasoning on the matter and agreed, at its meeting on
27 March 2003, a general approach on this proposal, including a ban on transport of heavy grades of oil
in single hull tankers.

As indicated by the Commission in its Communication ‘Report to the European Council on action to deal
with the effects of the Prestige disaster’, of 5 March 2003, it seems that industry shares the view that
Community legislation is the most appropriate means to ensure equal treatment between competing
companies.

(2003/C 280 E/142)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1277/03

by Dana Scallon (PPE-DE) to the Council

(4 April 2003)

Subject: Uniates in Romania

On 7 February 2002, after having gained legal title in the courts, the Greek Catholic minority (also called
Eastern Rite Catholic, or Uniates) was able to to recover their Church of Ocna Mures, Transylvania,
Romania.

A few weeks later, on 16 March 2002, they informed me that they were driven out of their church by a
mob led by three Orthodox priests, aided and abetted by the local police.