Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
LEGAL NOTES
INSURANCE POOL PLEA AT SEA LAW MEETING
Norway — one of the world’s leading shipping nations — has suggested that a mandatory insurance pool be created to compensate countries bordering on international waterways for damage by foreign ships.
The Norwegian Minister of Commerce and Shipping, Mr. Jens Evensen, did not spell out details of the idea or suggest any specific waterways he had in mind when he addressed the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference in Caracas. But he said the idea should be included in the new convention delegates to the conference were trying to work out.
He spoke of accidents that could cause pollution or other dangers. “Thought should, therefore, be given to the possibility of a clause in the convention establishing an obligation on shipping nations to develop a mandatory insurance pool,” he said.
“This would guarantee that riparian states would be compensated for damage caused by foreign ships in transit in cases where the traditional rules of liability prove inadequate.”
Mr. Evensen also stressed the urgency of establishing a new world order for the seas, laying down legal obligations and standards and sharing competence for regulations among states and between them and international bodies.
Because ofthe present danger of serious international friction and disputes over rival claims the conference had a direct bearing on world peace, he said.
The Minister, who has been working with a representative group of states
— known as “the Evensen Group” — on proposals for a new international treaty, said the main elements of a package seemed to be emerging. He spelled these out as:
—A 12-mile territorial sea with right of innocent passage within it and a special regime of unimpeded passage in international straits.
—A 200-mile economic zone within which the coastal state had sovereign rights to explore and exploit natural resources, coupled with rights to combat pollution and regulate scientific research.
—Retention ofthe concept of the continental shelf, but with firmer and more precise criteria on exploitability than were contained in the 1958 Convention. —Recognition of the special rights and needs of archipelagic states to archipelagic waters, while recognising the right of international navigation through these waters.
—Specific, detailed provisions to combat and prevent sea pollution. Translating the recommendations of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Environment into binding terms.
—Detailed provisions for a legal regime regulating the seabed and ocean floor outside national jurisdiction through an international authority.
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