Civil and Criminal Liabilities Concerning Marine Pollution in Hong Kong
In an increasingly environmentally-conscious world, vessel-source marine pollution has, for a long time, been singled out for special attention. Liability and compensation for marine pollution is in general governed by the law and practice of the country where the pollution is suffered. Local legislative responses to marine pollution accidents pertaining to marine pollution control emerge as a result of relevant international conventions. Thus, Hong Kongs Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Ordinance, Chapter 413 seeks to incorporate a major international convention that is applicable to the Territory, namely the 1973 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Two other international conventions pertaining to oil pollution-the 1992 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and the 1992 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage-have also been sought to be implemented locally by means of Hong Kong legislations, Chapter 414 the Merchant Shipping (Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Ordinance. This article examines the basis on which civil and criminal liability are imposed for marine pollution under the legislations passed in Hong Kong. This article seeks to discuss how the legislations might be interpreted and what implications might flow from them. As a unique maritime law principle, all marine risks are subject to limitation of liability which allows a ship-owner to assess the total risk exposure in relation to the tonnage of the ship. Such limitation would only be disallowed if the accident which gave rise to the claims would be found by a court to have occurred with the actual fault and privity of, or intentionally and recklessly and with knowledge that loss would result, by the shipowner. Similar principles apply also to vesselsource marine pollution, which, however, is subject to different international and local legal regimes. This article will also discuss the circumstances where the ship owners could limit their liability and where such rights of limitation can be lost. Lastly, this article will analyse the criminal liabilities for marine pollution under Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution)Ordinance Chapter 413 of the Law of Hong Kong (undesirability of oil pollution at sea). If the Master is found guilty of an offence, he may be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding HK$500,000 and upon conviction on indictment, at HK$5,000,000.It shall be a defence for a person charged to show that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence of several regulations. This is an area in which the Master can find himself convicted of an offence notwithstanding that the cause of the polluting event was beyond his control.
Civil Liability Criminal Liability Marine Pollution
Lianjun LI Mu QIN
Hong Kong, England and Wales and a partner at Richards Butler in association with Reed Smith LLP. Mr LLB in Maritime Law from the School of Law, Shanghai Maritime University in 2007
国际会议
Intl Conference on Marine Pollution Liability & Policy(国际海洋油污会议--海洋污染责任与政策国际研讨会)
大连
英文
82-97
2009-06-04（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）