The Legal Committee deals with all legal matters within the scope of IMO, including issues relating to liability and compensation, fair treatment of seafarers and the fraudulent registration of ships. The Committee met for its 111th session from 22 to 26 April 2024. The IUMI Secretary General was present. The session was chaired by Gillian Grant of Canada. Three issues on the agenda were of particular interest for IUMI members: 

Revised Guidelines for accepting Insurance Companies and Certificates 

IUMI was involved in the Correspondence Group on the revision of the Guidelines for accepting Insurance Companies and Certificates and the discussion on measures to assess the need to amend liability limits approved. IUMI and its Legal & Liability Committee members have been engaged in the ongoing work together with the International Group. 

At LEG 111, The Committee approved the revision of the Guidelines for accepting insurance companies, financial security providers and the International Group of Protection and Indemnity Associations (CL No.3464).  The updated Guidelines will be issued via a LEG circular. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide State Parties to conventions covering liability issues with guidance for accepting insurance companies and certificates or similar documentation from insurance companies, financial security providers, IG members and P&I Clubs outside the IG. Relevant conventions include:  

 

• the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1992, as amended (1992 Civil Liability Convention);  
• the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001 (2001 Bunkers Convention);  
• the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007 (2007 Nairobi WRC); and   
• the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 1996, as amended by the Protocol of 2010 to the Convention (the 2010 HNS Convention).  

 

The revised Guidelines include a list of definitions and a new section on ‘Criteria for accepting Insurance Certificates’. The criteria and documentation for accepting insurers and insurance certificates have also been modified and expanded.   

Measures to assess the need to amend liability limits 

The Legal Committee deals with issues related to liability and compensation for damage caused by ships, such as pollution. The Committee approved the following methodologies to transparently assess the need to amend liability limits:   

• methodology for the collection and reporting of experiences of incidents and resulting damage; and   
• methodology for assessing changes in monetary value.   

 

These methodologies will be issued as an annex to a LEG circular. This completes the work under this output. 

Legal framework for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) 

A Joint Working Group of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), the Facilitation Committee (FAL) and the Legal Committee (LEG) works on the forthcoming MASS Code (MASS-JWG). In addition, further Working and Correspondence Groups under LEG, MSC and FAL are working on other details related to MASS. Some cornerstone decisions such as the establishment of Remote Operations Centers (ROC) for MASS are under consideration but work is yet to be completed. LEG 111 considered legal implications of the new regime and the MASS Code provisions, particularly liability questions. However, since the work on the MASS Code is not complete and the regime is not mature enough, LEG 111 has postponed the work on legal and liability principles and provisions. 

A few cornerstones, on which the MASS-JWG has already agreed include: 

• there should be a human master responsible for a MASS, regardless of mode of operation or degree/level of autonomy; 
• the master may not need to be on board, depending on the technology used in the MASS and the human presence on board, if any;    
• regardless of mode of operation or degree or level of autonomy, the master of a MASS should have the means to intervene when necessary;  
• only a single master should be responsible for a MASS at any one time, although several masters could be responsible for a MASS on a single voyage, under certain conditions; and  
• a detailed discussion is needed about the circumstances where a master of a MASS could be responsible for several MASS.