Compensation System For Damage Under HNS Convention

Only"International convention on liability and compensation for damage in connection with the carriage of hazardous and noxious substances by sea, 1996"(short for HNS convention) carried out a special provision on compensation for pollution damage caused by the carriage of dangerous goods by sea, In the existing international conventions. The HNS convention Established the complete damage-compensation system cored with two-tier compensation rules, that, the Shipowners pay the compensation at the first step, complemented by the HNS fund given by the consignee as the second step. Strict liability borne by the responsible person would made the protecting the interests of the injured party more effectively and made the balance between the shipowner and the consignee of the risk-sharing obligations more fairly, which meet the needs of all parties. Such rules means a lot towards the founding of the conpensation system of the international carriage of hazardous and noxious substances by sea and is worthy of in-depth study. But since 1996, the inception of the Convention, it never entered into force because of its own shortcomings. With the increase international carriage of hazardous ad noxious substances accidents by sea, there will be more and more damage cases result in. Therefore, it is emergency to resolve the dispute on the Convention, to promote the Convention enters into force and to found the internetional standarded conpensation system. In the active efforts of countries around the world, the legal committee of IMO approved the draft protocol of HNS at april, 2009, aimed at to enforce the Convention. Than IMO drew the draft to the council of the IMO for the approving at the meeting which will hold at June, 2009, and expecting for the formally adopted.2 China's power is growing in the maritime transport area, and participates more and more HNS transportation activities, however, the relevant domestic law is very incomplete, and requires improvement and researchment. In order to expedite the development of the legal and institutional construction in our country, and to spend up effective of the protection of environment of the sea, we must study at the compensation system of the HNS pollution damages, which can provide the reference for the decisions on the acession to the Convention of China.This paper is divided into four parts, about 30,000 words. The first part is an overview of the HNS Convention. Talking about the Convention from the initial background, and indicating the necessity and the timely of birth of the Convention, the paper also introduced the basic concepts and the application of the Convention, which even summarizes the main features of the Convention, in order to lay the foundation for a comprehensive understanding of the Convention. The second part introduces the compensation system of the HNS Convention in details, including the sources of the system, responsibilities, foundation of the liability, scope of compensation ,limitations of liability and compensation funds,etc. The third part focuses on the latest development of the HNS Convention in recent years, including analyzed reasons of the delay of the enforcement of the Convention and the improve and perfect of a new revised draft protocol provided for the Convention. The forth part mainly introduced the subjects of the reference from the Convention to China legal system. First, overview the China's currently regulations on the carriage of the HNS by sea in the domestic legal system, than analysis the terms which China has to take if the join in the Convention and what it may bring in, considering whether we should access or not, and finally, offer the recommendations for the preparations to acceded the HNS Convention.