Part I. The Regulation of Vessel-Source Pollution in its Eco-Political Context: 1. Vessel-source pollution, the ecological imperative and the compliance problem 2. The dynamics of the law-making process: actors, arenas and interests Part II. Vessel-Source Pollution and the International Legislative Process: 3. Vessel-source pollution and the regime formation process 4. Jurisdiction over vessel-source marine pollution 5. Implementation and compliance 6. Liability and compensation Part III. The Future of Regulation: 7. Challenges and prescriptions.

Vessel-Source Marine Pollution: The Law and Politics of International Regulation

The paper is a chapter in the book Economic Analysis of Law in China. This book comprises contributions on recent developments in China from a law and economics perspective. For the first time Chinese and European scholars jointly discuss some important attributes of China's legal and economic system, and some recent problems, from this particular viewpoint. 
The authors apply an economic analysis of law not only to general characteristics of China's social order, such as the specific type of federal competition, the efficiency of taxation and regulation, and the importance of informal institutions (Guanxi), but also to distinct areas of Chinese law such as competition policy, professional regulation, corporate governance and capital markets, oil pollution, intellectual property rights and internet games. The contributors discuss to what extent the law and economic models that have so far been employed within the context of developed countries can be applied to a country like China as well. The European scholars use law and economics in order to determine what China could learn from the European experience. The Chinese scholars discuss whether law and economics can be of any use in analysing the particular features of the Chinese legal system today. 
Economic Analysis of Law in China will appeal to lawyers, economists and social scientists in China interested in developing legal institutions with an eye on economic efficiency. Scholars generally interested in the economic analysis of law, as well as in the comparison and transition of economic systems, will also find much in this book that will be of interest to them.

Economic Analysis of Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage in China, Chapter in Book

Civil Liability and Financial Security for Offshore Oil and Gas Activities

Financial caps for oil pollution damage: A historical mistake?

In this paper the economic analysis of law is used to analyze the international regime with respect to the compensation provided to victims of oil pollution damage. It concerns more particularly the regime which came into being through the international maritime organization IMO which resulted in the Civil Liability Convention of 1969 and the Fund Convention of 1971. First the general lessons from the economic analysis of law are used to argue how optimal compensation for victims of oil pollution damage should be constructed. Than the contents and evolution of the international origine is briefly sketched. Finally the lessons from economic analysis are compared with the actual structure of the international regime. Specific attention is paid e.g. to the fact that a strict liability rule applies to tanker owners, to the limitation of liability, to the channelling of liability to the tanker owner and to the introduction of compulsory insurance. Some of the features of the international regime suggest the introduction of a duty to seek financial coverage and the shift to strict liability are judged in compliance with economic analysis. Other features more particularly the limitation of liability and a channelling of liability to the tanker owner do not seem to fit into the economic model.

Economic analysis of compensation for oil pollution damage

The focus of this book is divided between international conventions and United States (US) domestic laws. The latter are of particular importance because of the large volume of oil and chemicals imported annually by the US, and because US domestic laws on the subject represent a high-water mark of regulation whose complexities are many. Otherwise it is generally beyond the scope of this book to examine national laws: international conventions are described on the footing that these have been (or are due to be) enacted in the domestic laws of many states in the international community, and that they are discussed with the reservation that it may remain necessary for the reader to investigate possible intricacies of national law. The book describes how marine environmental law has not only changed, it has extended its boundaries in ever widening areas of concern. The authors describe how the maritime industry is clearly entering a new era of environmental challenges not only for industrialized nations but also for developing countries as well. The book examines the removal of wrecks, dumping at sea, shipment of waste, dismantling of vessels, new regimes on ballast water management and anti-fouling systems, and emerging topics such as greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. The authors have also more fully covered the main international laws to prevent pollution from ships and enforce international rules. The final and longest chapter of the book deals with criminal liability for pollution from ships. Violations of international rules continue to be committed by a small minority of operators that fail to fully embrace proper shipboard waste management practices.

Shipping and the Environment: Law and Practice

The first edition of this book was quickly acclaimed as the new leading text worldwide on the law and practice of pollution from ships. The second edition deals with a variety of developments since then in this fast-moving subject: the Erika and the Prestige; changes in international law on maritime safety and compensation; latest decisions on claims for compensation; analysis of the SCOPIC regime; new material on ports of refuge, transboundary movements, and pollution from offshore craft; latest cases and regulatory changes in the US; and enlarged chapters on enforcement of laws and criminal sanctions. Like its predecessor, the second edition is superbly indexed and written clearly with the needs in mind of a wide international readership.

Colin De La Rue

Papers

Shipping and the Environment: Law and Practice

Shipping and the Environment

Damage to natural resources and costs of restoration