Research On The Legal Issues Of The Ship Oil Pollution Damage Compensation Fund System

The energy demand in China is rising,and the amount of oil transported by sea is increasing,leading to the soar of the risk of oil spill from ships.Internationally,the International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage has been established in response to ship oil spills.Some countries have established domestic compensation fund system for oil pollution damage.China has not yet joined the convention system of Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage,and the current system of fund for compensation for oil pollution damage under the domestic law is not that advanced,so it may not be able to respond to oil spill accidents in a timely and effective manner.The Maritime Law of the People’s Republic of China(Revised Draft)(hereinafter referred to as the Maritime Law(Revised Draft))was issued for public comments in 2018.This thesis is to discuss how to learn from international or foreign experiences and improve fund system in China and some provisions in the Maritime Law(Revised Draft)by adopting the comparative method and illustrating the current legislation related to the fund for compensation for oil pollution damage in China.There are four main parts in this thesis.The first part introduces the generation and development of fund for compensation for oil pollution damage based on the introduction of oil pollution damage.It also explains the significance of the establishment of the fund and the basic concept of share of risks between ship owners and oil owners.The second part adopts a comparative method to illustrate some main provisions in the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage,the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 in the United States and Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund in Canada,especially the provisions worthy of learning by China,such as the nature of the fund,the efficiency of compensation,the scope of compensation,and the cooperation between the fund and owners of ships.In addition,this part also introduces the current legislation and operation of the fund in China.The third part analyzes the deficiencies of the current fund in China and causes of these deficiencies and discusses relevant part in the Maritime Law(Revised Draft).The main deficiencies include the inefficiency of compensation,narrow scope of compensation,the unreasonable sequence of compensation and the limit of compensation.The fourth part is the suggestions for coping with the deficiencies mentioned in the previous part respectively and the summary of the progress and deficiencies of the relevant parts in the Maritime Law(Revised Draft).