THE RIO ORINOCO AND THE HAVEN—TWO MAJOR CASES FROM A LEGAL POINT OF VIEW
1993; Atlantis Press; Volume: 1993; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.7901/2169-3358-1993-1-663
ISSN2169-3366
Autores Tópico(s)International Environmental Law and Policies
ResumoABSTRACT The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPC Fund), an inter-governmental organization with 49 member states, has recently been involved in two major oil spills of great interest from both a legal and a technical point of view. The Rio Orinoco incident occurred in Canada and the Haven incident took place in Italy. The Rio Orinoco was carrying asphalt when it grounded in the Gulf of St Lawrence. The grounding led to extensive salvage and cleanup operations carried out on behalf of the Canadian authorities. The claims for compensation, totalling 15 million Canadian dollars (12.5 million U.S. dollars), were settled out of court. This paper discusses the main legal problems that arose, for example, the reasonableness of certain operations and the relationship between pollution prevention and salvage. The Haven exploded off Genoa with 144,000 metric tons of crude oil on board. A large quantity of oil escaped, necessitating extensive cleanup operations in Italy, France, and Monaco. Over 1,300 claims for compensation have been submitted totalling US$1.4 billion. This paper deals with some of the main legal problems that have arisen as a result of this incident, for example, the admissibility of claims relating to non-economic damage to the marine environment and the method to be applied for the conversion of the maximum amount payable by the IOPC Fund into Italian lire.
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