MARITIME LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION IN EU LAW

INTRODUCTION

The European Union’s interest in regulating maritime liability is comparatively of recent date. The policy interest in this area of law arose in the aftermath of the sinking of the Erika off the French Atlantic coast in December 1999; an accident which generated a widespread concern among the public - and within the EU institutions - about the adequacy of the international liability and compensation regime for spills caused by oil tankers. This policy interest has not, as of yet at least, been translated into a comprehensive regulatory framework for maritime liability and compensation. There is no EU-wide maritime civil liability regime in place; the core aspects of maritime liability in the EU member states are still regulated by national laws, which in turn usually implement some of the key international conventions in the field adopted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).