It is certain that the Conventions will be revised at some point.'

Under the existing conventions, salvage activities may be regarded as measures preventing or minimising economic loss and/or eliminating or reducing the need for restoration of a polluted environment. Yet, in order to be admissible for compensation, the costs of the activities must be proportionate to the likely economic and environmental consequences of not undertaking these activities.

The IOPC Funds director reminded his audience that a claim by the Spanish Government of ?109.2m for pumping out the remainder of the oil from the wreck of the tanker Prestige, which was lying in over 3,000m of water 260km off the Spanish coast, had been rejected on the grounds that the cost of the operation was disproportionate to the costs of the likely consequences of leaving the oil in the vessel.

He also pointed out that the IOPC Funds Assembly had decided, early on in the life of the Conventions, that operations performed by salvors, if admissible for compensation under the 1992 Conventions, should not be assessed as salvage awards but rather on the basis of cost plus a reasonable element of profit.

Jacobsson added that SCOPIC Special Compensation rates are 'a good yardstick' for this purpose. He indicated that governments were at present not prepared to revise the international regime although experience showed that if the industries concerned felt the need, they could react faster and had a history of reaching agreements which adjust the distribution of the financial burden between the shipping and oil industries.

The ISU Conference was also addressed by INTERTANKO managing director Peter Swift, who reviewed recent developments concerning criminalisation of seafarers and said he was hopeful that the legal challenge to the 2005 EU Directive on Ship Source Pollution would be referred from the London High Court to the European Court of Justice.

MJ Information No: 21702