Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2003)

Classification Societies

The EC's proposal for a directive on ship-source pollution and on the intro- duction of sanctions, including criminal sanctions, for pollution offenses, states the following: "...the proposed

Directive establishes that discharges in violation of Community laws shall con- stitute a criminal offence and that sanc- tions, including criminal sanctions, are 36 to be imposed if the persons concerned have been found to have caused or par- ticipated in the act by intent or grossly negligent behavior. For natural persons this may include, in the most serious cases, the deprivation of liberty. The introduction of adequate sanctions for pollution offences is particularly impor- tant in relation to pollution by shipping. as the international civil liability regimes that govern ship-source pollu- tion incidents involve significant short- comings with respect to their dissuasive effects."

The proposed directive works on the assumption that the enforcement of

MARPOL 73/78 is not strong or consis- tent enough and that the Civil Liability

Conventions and their attendant Funds do not provide enough of a deterrent to would-be polluters. The proposed direc- tive is aimed as much at operational dis- charges of oil (in tank-cleaning opera- tions. for example) as at large pollution incidents such as those which resulted from the sinkings of the Erika and the

Prestige. The EC believes that the pro- posed directive would give the nascent

European Maritime Safety Agency the legal basis to enforce MARPOL more effectively within European waters.

In light of all this, it remains difficult for classification societies to understand or accept the current situation in which shipowners, who should be in continu- ous control of their ships, enjoy the pro- tection of statutory limits on their liabil- ity by reason of the Civil Liability

Conventions, whereas classification societies, who. through their surveyors, only visit the ship for a few hours or days per year, remain exposed to poten- tially unlimited liability claims. This disparity in treatment seems to be entirely illogical. Shipowners have a non-delegable duty to maintain their ships in a seaworthy condition, yet they enjoy the benefit of limited liability. In contrast, a classification society's duty of care is much narrower than that of the shipowner's, i.e. to perform its classifi- cation and statutory surveys with rea- sonable skill and care, but there is no equivalent statutory limitation of liabili- ty bestowed on the classification soci- eties, who should be allowed to do their safety-enhancing work without fear of crippling litigation.

Cooperation is the

Key to Progress

By Ugo Salerno, managing director.

R1NA and chairman of IACS

The biggest challenge facing class today is learning how to co-operate. We have to cooperate with regulators, with shipowners, with shipyards, and above all, with each other. No one doubts that it is only classification societies that have the knowledge, experience and global networks necessary to set. imple- ment and monitor the technical rules for building safe ships. But how do we deploy those assets? Our whole industry is based upon competition, and classifi- cation is no exception. Classification societies cooperate, through IACS, but they also compete. That is healthy com- petition. driving up standards both of service and technical excellence. But when that competition means that stan- dards become too divergent, it must be time for more cooperation and for com- petition to be where it belongs best, on service standards only. (Continued on page 55) m~- ri

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