EU Environmental
Liability Directive

The European Commission launched in December 2021 a call for evidence for an evaluation of the EU Environmental Liability Directive (hereafter ELD). This evaluation will assess whether or not the Directive is fit for purpose and identify any shortcomings it may have.

ECSA, ICS and IG P&I have sent in a joint submission supporting the International regime for liability and compensation for environmental damage from a shipping incident and strongly urges the continued retention of exceptions so as to maintain the application of the international regime without conflict with the ELD.

RBSA took a critical look at the ELD regarding environmental damage from shipping accidents as well, and came to the same conclusion.

While it can be argued that the ELD is an ambitious framework that embeds some new and often challenging concepts, it may be less well-equipped to define, allocate and financially secure liability for environmental damages from the international shipping industry. This might include problems arising from jurisdiction, choice of law, standard of liability, and enforcement of judgment that typically plague cross-boundary pollution claims and which by definition often occur in the shipping industry. Quite frequently, these problems result in protracted litigation and delayed payment of damages. These experiences demonstrate the difficulties that nations face in adopting liability systems. As a result of a lack of legislation and/or patchwork of legislation that would apply to international shipping, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has put in place a set of international conventions covering liability and compensation for marine pollution.