The test for breaking shipowner’s right to limit liability – a unified Interpretation

In this IIL marine and energy webinar, Daisy Roche and Leyla Pearson take the audience through the background of and the journey towards the development of the unified interpretation of the test for breaking a shipowner’s right to limit liability under International Maritime Organization (IMO) Conventions.

Description

This webinar takes you on a six-year journey beginning in 2016, to explain why and how the unified interpretation of the test for breaking a shipowner’s right to limit liability under IMO Conventions was considered necessary and how it was developed. The main impetus for its development began following the Spanish Supreme Court Ruling in the Prestige, which raised concerns about how the test to break the shipowner’s right to limit liability had been interpreted and applied by the Court and that Clubs would be directly liable above a shipowner/Club’s limit of liability under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention. These concerns prompted the IG and ICS to work together with States to ultimately agree at IMO in 2021 a unified interpretation of the test for breaking a shipowner’s right to limit their liability, and this unified interpretation confirms that this right to limit liability is virtually unbreakable. The adoption of this unified interpretation will provide helpful guidance for courts, states, insurers and shipowners in future cases.

Learning objectives

• Limitation of liability
• Channelling of liability under IMO Conventions
• Ship sourced pollution damage

Speakers

• Daisy Roche, Senior Secretariat Executive, The International Group of P&I Clubs
• Leyla Pearson, Senior Manager, Legal, The International Chamber of Shipping