Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order)
The International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969 (CLC), which was extended to the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia by Schedule 2 to the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Overseas Territories) Order 1975, provides uniform rules and procedures for determining questions of liability and for awarding compensation when damage is caused by pollution resulting from the escape or discharge of oil from ships. The International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971 (the Fund Convention), which was extended to the Sovereign Base Areas by Schedule 3 to the 1975 Order, set up an international fund to provide a supplementary system for compensation and indemnification for such damage. The 1992 Protocol to the CLC, and the 1992 Protocol to the Fund Convention respectively create a new 1992 Civil Liability Convention and a 1992 Fund Convention which together provide for higher levels of compensation and more extensive liability. The 1992 Conventions are given effect in the United Kingdom by Part VI, Chapters III and IV of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. This Order extends those provisions of the 1995 Act to the Sovereign Base Areas with the necessary exceptions, adaptations and modifications.