Maritime Limitation of Liability in China

    development of meriderm limitation of liability in China 1993 until 2011. Global limitation of liability is one of the most important guns up in maritime law the Chinese Maritime code devoted the whole of its chapter 6 to the concept and since the code's adoption in 1993 numerous court cases and supplementary regulation concerning the concept have been added into China's legal resources in view of all this new development this article set out to critically examine the concept with respect to applicable ships persons entitled to limit conduct bearing limitation limitation funds and in particular like right the to invoke based on its different trading areas China devoid its limitation into International Coastal and Inland which is a unique and important feature when compared with many other jurisdiction in addition to traditional Maritime claims discussion is extended to limitation of liability for oil pollution and nuclear damages 

    the maritime code of the People's Republic of China or the CMC has adopted the main principles as well as substantial condemn of the International Convention on limitation of liability for maritime claims 1976 albeit with a certain differences existing however there are certain claims excluded for the purpose of global limitation of liability claims such as oil pollution and nuclear damage during Maritime transportation and for this excluded claim the damage incured will be massive this is what have been made internationally to regulate such claim including the International Convention on civil liability for oil pollution and the convention relating to civil liability in the field of Meridian Carriage of nuclear material the purpose of this paper is to provide a clear and complete picture in China on the new development of the legal framework of limitation of liability not only for General Maritime claims but also for oil pollution and nuclear damage arising from Maritime transport the time span is from 1993 to 2011. Global limitation of liability for General Maritime claims the relevant provision for the global 

    limitation of liability for General Maritime claims are set out in chapter 11 of CMC although China hasn't ratified the International Convention on limitation of liability for maritime claims 1976. incorporate the provision of the 1976 llmc convention apart from certain differences based on its different trading areas China has divided its legal limitation of liability system into International Coastal and Inland regime the limitation of liability on the CMC is only applicable to ships undertaking International Carriage of good and passengers the limitation of liability for ships engaging in coastal transport between Chinese Port has been excluded by CMC for it has authorized the competing of the 

    release of transport and communication under the state Council of the PRC to formulate specific regulation there are two spatial regulation which were promulgated by the ministry of communication of the PRC one is the provision concerning the limitation of liability for maritime claims for ships with a growth Stone Age not exceeding 300 tones and those engaging in coastal Transport Services as well as those for other Coastal operations it should be emphasized that a ship with less than 300 tones is object to the coastal provision even though it underdakes International carriage the other is the provision concerning the limitation of liability with respect to the garage of fasten your spicy between the port of the PRC or the passenger provision these two spatial regulation apply the same principles as CMC the only difference is being the amount of the limit under these two regulation the limits of 

    liability for ships sailing between Coastal port or those engaging in coastal works are lesser than the international limit the rationale for the lower limits is the third shift which are smaller in size and burden heavily with Planet transport have a lower level of capability for compensation especially ships engaging in Works other than Transport Services they are sometimes managed by government agencies or carrying out work on the governmental orders hence if the limited amount was too high for most of them then the purpose of the regime of limitation of liability will not be rich for the Inland Waterway transport the liability of ship owners is governed by the contract law and regulation on the domestic transport of goodbye Waterway under which no limitation of liability exists 

    however there are different views on weather Inland Waterway ships are eligible to limit their liability like ships in international or Coastal carriage this issue will be discussed in the next section applicable ship a ship under article 3 of CMC means sea going ship and other mobile unit but doesn't include ship or craft to be used for military or public service proposes nor small ship or less than 20 tons crossed Stone Age the ship must be sea going ship the river rolling out exclusively river-going ships at the level of theory a sea going ship is generally understood to be a structure constructive launched and intended for use in navigation at Sea as a vessel the Supreme people scored interpretation on the application of the spatial Maritime procedure law provided clarification for sea going ship the term sea-going ship reversed to the ship suitable for sailing at sea or sea connected Waters if seaworthiness certificate of an inland Waterway ship allows it to sail at Sea connected Waters and when 

    claims arise it actually navigate at Sea connected Waters it is eligible to be deemed as the sea going ship under CMC besides sea going ship other mobile unit are also be able to regulate by CMC the mobile unit under article 3 are usually interpreted as having Motif power of its own if a floating platform constructed for the purpose of exploring or exploiting the natural resources of the CPAP is navigating at Sea rather than is on location engaged in the exploration or exploitation it is covered by article 3 and then is subject to Global limitation of liability under CMC however such floating platform has been expressly excluded in the 1976 llmc convention person entitled The Limit according to CMC article 204 205 and 206 person entitled to invoke Global limit limitation include ship owners sell Force person for whose act neglect or default the ship owners or selfers are responsible and the insurer the term ship owner as referred to in CMC includes both a charterer and an operator of a ship CMC has incorporated the concept of operator from the 1976 llmc convention however both the 1976 llmc convention and CMC didn't provide a definition for this concept it has been admitted that this leg has indeed caused control for Z in China Court judicial practice some Chinese Court have even made use of this opportunity to roll out the limitation the best example of this is The Zo Shan Tong Tu Construction Company LTD versus standing jinxian Shipping Company LTD and danden Marine Shipping Company it was decided by Ningbo Maritime court that since there is an ambiguity regarding the definition of operator it is inappropriate to presume that the operator can be entitled to limit liability thank you