The liability emerging from the Maritime Safety Law and the importance of the I.S.M. Code – the MSC Patricia oil spill court case in Sines (Portugal)

Abstract

The deepening and development of the rules on maritime safety have the effect of gradually doing away with clauses exempting or limiting liability, as regards, in general, the international system of liability for damage caused by spills in the marine environment and the application of the compensation funds. The compliance with maritime safety standards, while minimising "risks" (and errors), also makes the fight against "threats" more robust and, at the same time, limits the application of clauses on exoneration and limitation of liability, which are present, for example, and among other instruments, in the conventions on pollution resulting from oil spills and those relating to the maritime transport of goods. The added value of standardising the I.S.M. Code and using it as a reference to qualify the conduct in question also has consequences for insurers and criminal liability, in which the trials of most of the most severe spills fall, as was the recent case of the N/M "Patrícia" in Sines in October 2016. With the new techniques and modern types of equipment on board the vessels, the increasingly demanding nature of ship management requires a new approach to exoneration clauses (of civil liability and its limits), considering their complete appliance with the leading international references and quality assessment.

Keywords

• Maritime safety
• Liability
• Pollution
• Hague Rules
• Nautical fault
• Negligence