News Archive

Texts of Conventions - 2005 Edition

HNS Website

Implementation of the HNS Convention - Workshop, 28-29 June 2005

Programme
Guide to the Implementation of the HNS Convention

Copies of the individual PowerPoint presentations given at the Workshop can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

HNS Workshop presentations.zip	Zipfile containing set of all presentations
Overview of the Convention	Jerry Rysanek (Canada)
What are HNS?	Joe Nichols (IOPC Funds)
The shipowner and his insurer	Erik Rosaeg (Norway)
The HNS Fund	Måns Jacobsson (IOPC Funds)
Contributing cargo and the receiver	Willem Oosterveen (Netherlands)
Accounts and sectors /Reporting contributing cargo	Catherine Grey (IOPC Funds)
Interaction with other conventions	Måns Jacobsson (IOPC Funds)

Publications

The new edition of the Claims Manual is now available in English, French and Spanish.

Publications

The 2004 Annual Report is now available in English. The French and Spanish versions of the 2004 Report will be available shortly. The 2003 Reports in French and Spanish can be accessed by clicking on the following links: French and Spanish.

The Supplementary Fund Protocol enters into force on 3 March 2005

Further information is available in the Press release issued by the IOPC Funds.

List of 1992 Fund Member States which are Parties to the Supplementary Fund Protocol

Text of the Supplementary Fund Protocol (IMO document).

Entry Into Force of the Supplementary Fund Protocol

The conditions for the entry into force of the Supplementary Fund Protocol were fulfilled on 3 December 2004 when the Protocol had been ratified by Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway and Spain, which had received an aggregate quantity of some 532 million tonnes of contributing oil during 2003. The Protocol will therefore enter into force on 3 March 2005.

Further information is available in the Press release issued by the IOPC Funds.

Text of the Supplementary Fund Protocol (IMO document).

Publications

The 2003 Annual Report is now available in English, French, and Spanish.

Meeting in Barcelona about the HNS Convention

A meeting about the 1996 Convention on liability and compensation for damage in connection with the carriage of hazardous or noxious substances by sea (HNS Convention) took place in Barcelona, Spain on 19 May 2004. The meeting was organised by OCIMF in cooperation with other industry organisations and was intended primarily for the chemical and oil industries that would be contributors to the HNS Fund. Further information about the meeting is available via the Mareforum website and the OCIMF website.

Increase in limits of compensation for oil pollution damage under the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions

On 1 November 2003, the limits of liability and compensation under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Convention increased by some 50.37%, resulting in a total of some £164 million (US$308.5 million) being available for each incident.

As a result of the experience of some major incidents in the 1990s (the Nakhodka in Japan and the Erika in France), a number of States considered that the limits of liability and compensation under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Convention were inadequate. The shipowner is normally entitled to limit his liability to an amount which is linked to the tonnage of the ship.

In October 2000, the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) considered a proposal by a number of States to increase the limits of liability and compensation under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Convention by using the special procedure laid down in the Conventions, the 'tacit amendment procedure'. The Committee adopted two Resolutions increasing the limits contained in the Conventions by some 50.37%. The amendments entered into force on 1 November 2003.

The increased limits of the shipowner's liability will be as follows:

(a) for a ship not exceeding 5 000 units of gross tonnage, 4 510 000 Special Drawing Rights (£4 million) (US$7 million);

(b) for a ship with a tonnage between 5 000 and 140 000 units of tonnage, 4 510 000 SDR (£4 million) (US$7 million) plus 631 SDR (£509) (US$959) for each additional unit of tonnage; and

(c) for a ship of 140 000 units of tonnage or over, 89 770 000 SDR (£72.5 million) (US$136 million).

The amendment to the 1992 Fund Convention will bring the total amount available under the 1992 Conventions for incidents occurring from 1 November 2003 to 203 million SDR (£164 million) (US$308.5 million).