Merchant Shipping Act 1995

Limitation of Fund’s liability under section 175

176 (1) The Fund’s liability under section 175 shall be subject to the limits imposed by paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of article 4 of the Fund Convention (as amended by Article III of the protocol dated 19th November 1976 to that Convention) which impose an overall limit on the liabilities of the owner and of the Fund, and the text of which is set out in Part II of Schedule 5.

(2) Evidence of any instrument issued by any organ of the Fund or of any document in the custody of the Fund, or any entry in or extract from such a document, may be given in any legal proceedings by production of a copy certified as a true copy by an official of the Fund; and any document purporting to be such a copy shall be received in evidence without proof of the official position or handwriting of the person signing the certificate.

(3) For the purpose of giving effect to paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of Article 4 of the Fund Convention a court giving judgment against the Fund in proceedings under section 175 shall notify the Fund, and—

(a) no steps shall be taken to enforce the judgment unless and until the court gives leave to enforce it,

(b) that leave shall not be given unless and until the Fund notifies the court either that the amount of the claim is not to be reduced under those paragraphs, or that it is to be reduced to a specified amount, and

(c) in the latter case the judgment shall be enforceable only for the reduced amount.

(4) Any steps taken to obtain payment of an amount or a reduced amount in pursuance of such a judgment as is mentioned in subsection (3) above shall be steps to obtain payment in sterling; and for the purpose of converting such an amount from special drawing rights into sterling one special drawing right shall be treated as equal to such a sum in sterling as the International Monetary Fund have fixed as being the equivalent of one special drawing right for—

(a) the day on which the judgment is given; or

(b) if no sum has been so fixed for that day, the last day before that day for which a sum has been so fixed.

(5) A certificate given by or on behalf of the Treasury stating—

(a) that a particular sum in sterling has been so fixed for the day on which the judgment was given; or

(b) that no sum has been fixed for that day and that a particular sum in sterling has been so fixed for a day which is the last day for which a sum has been so fixed before the day on which the judgment was given,

shall be conclusive evidence of those matters for the purposes of this Chapter.

(6) A document purporting to be such a certificate shall, in any proceedings, be received in evidence and, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be such a certificate.