BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

The IOPC Fund will if necessary take the question to the Supreme Court of Cassation. If the
decision of the Court of first instance in Genoa were to be confirmed, the maximum amount
payable by the IOPC Fund would correspond to over $600 million instead of $85 million. This
might in the IOPC Fund’s view seriously jeopardize the future of the system of compensation
established by the Conventions.
3.3 Indemnification of the shipowner
As regards ships registered in or flying the flag of a State Party to the Fund Convention, the IOPC
Fund shall indemnify the shipowner for a part of the aggregate amount of his liability under the Civil
Liability Convention. The maximum indemnification payable by the IOPC Fund to the shipowner is
33 SDR (US$47) for each ton of the ship’s tonnage for ships up to 83 333 tons: in respect of ships
over that tonnage, the indemnification payable for each ton of the ship’s tonnage increases until a
maximum of 5 667 000 SDR (US$8 million) is reached for ships over 105 000 tons.
The IOPC Fund is relieved of its obligation to indemnify the shipowner if it proves that the damage
resulted from the wilful misconduct of the owner himself. The same applies if it proves that, as a
result of the personal fault of the owner, the ship did not comply with the requirements laid down in
certain international conventions, and that the damage arose because of this non-compliance.
3.4 Organlsatlon of the IOPC Fund
The IOPC Fund consists of an Assembly, an Executive Committee and a Secretariat.
The Assembly, which is composed of representatives of the Governments of all Member States, is
the supreme organ governing the IOPC Fund and holds regular sessions once a year. The
Executive Committee is elected by the Assembly. It is composed of 15 Member States. Its main
function is to approve settlements of claims against the IOPC Fund.
The Secretariat is headed by a Director. At present it has in all nine staff members at its
headquarters in London.
3.5 Contributlons to the IOPC Fund
The payments of compensation and indemnification as well as the administrative expenses of the
IOPC Fund are financed by contributions levied on any person who has received crude oil and
heavy fuel oil (“contributing oil”) in a quantity exceeding 150 000 tonnes in one calendar year in a
Contracting State of the Fund Convention.
Contributing oil is counted for contribution purposes each time it is received at ports or terminal
installations in a Fund Member State after carriage by sea. The term “received” refers to receipt
into tankage or storage immediately after carriage by sea. The place of loading is irrelevant in this
context: the oil may be imported from abroad, carried from another port in the same State or
transported by ship from an off-shore production rig. Also oil received for transhipment to another
port or received for further transport by pipeline is considered as received for contribution purposes.
A Member State is required to report every year to the IOPC Fund the name and address of any
person in that State who is liable to contribute to the IOPC Fund, as well as the quantity of
contributing oil received by any such person.
There are initial and annual contributions.
Initial contributions are payable when a State becomes a Member of the \OPC Fund.
Annual contributions are levied to meet the anticipated payments of compensation and
indemnification by the IOPC Fund during the coming year and of the administrative expenses for
that year. The amount of annual contributions is decided each year by the IOPC Fund Assembly.
Every contributor pays a specified amount per tonne of contributing oil received.
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