CMI Guidelines On Procedural Rules Relating To Limitation Of Liability And Its Influence On The Improvement Of Chinese Relevant Legislation

Limitation of liability for maritime claims is a rule that the responsible parties may limit their liability for compensation for loss or damage after the occurrence of a maritime accident. It is a unique system of maritime law, which is a legal privilege given by maritime law to the shipowners, charterers, operators and other persons related. Its main purpose is to protect and promote the development of shipping enterprises and international trade and so that the related enterprises could utilize the privilege to a full extent. It is often regulated by law that the responsible party who wants to limit his liability needs to comply with certain legal procedure. Therefore a perfect procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims is a guarantee for the privilege of the responsible party.For this reason Comite Maritime International drew up the guidelines on procedural rules relating to limitation of liability in maritime law, in order to unify the national legislations of various states and contribute to a more harmonized application of the conventions. This essay introduced the guidelines on procedural rules relating to limitation of liability in maritime law of CMI, gave a discussion on some problems of present legislation and put forward some suggestions on perfecting present provisions in China. There are four chapters in this essay.In the first chapter, the writer summarizes the background and significance of the guidelines on procedural rules relating to limitation of liability. The writer begins with introducing the general situation of CMI, and then depicts the concern and the endeavor of CMI on procedural issues relating to limitation of liability, and finally discusses on the applicable scope and significance of its achievement which is called guidelines on procedural rules relating to limitation of liability in maritime law.In the second chapter, the writer introduces the content of guidelines in details, and comments on the background and content of its provisions in four aspects.In the third chapter, the writer firstly introduces the current legislation of procedure relating to limitation of liability in China, and then analyses the problems occurred because of not stipulating a complete procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims.In the fourth chapter, the writer puts forward the theoretical confusions we need to clarify before we make an improvement on the procedural rules relating to limitation of liability in our country, such as the relationship between the constitution of a fund and the limitation of liability as well as the purpose of establishment of a fund. After that, the writer makes a reference to CMI guidelines on procedural rules relating to limitation of liability and tries to design a complete procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims.