NETHERLANDS SIGNS WRECK CONVENTION
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
THE Netherlands has become the fourth country to sign, subject to approval, the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007, joining Estonia, France and Italy, which signed subject to ratification. IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos welcomed the move and urged other States to follow suit, at the earliest opportunity, so that, “as intended, the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention, once in force, can fill a gap in the existing international legal framework by providing the first set of uniform international rules aimed at ensuring the prompt and effective removal of wrecks beyond the territorial sea, thereby also contributing to the IMO goals of safe navigation and marine environmental protection”.
The Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention was adopted in May 2007 and will provide the legal basis for States to remove, or have removed, shipwrecks that may have the potential to affect adversely the safety of lives, goods and property at sea, as well as the marine environment.
The Convention is open for signature until 18 November 2008 and, thereafter, will be open for ratification, accession or acceptance. It will enter into force twelve months following the date on which 10 states have either signed it without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval or have deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with IMO.
The convention will make the registered owner liable for the costs of locating, marking and removing a wreck and by imposing an insurance requirement on ships of 300 gross tonnage and above to cover this liability. The convention also includes an optional clause enabling States Parties to apply certain provisions to their territory, including their territorial sea.
An IMO statement notes: “Although the incidence of marine casualties has decreased dramatically in recent years, mainly thanks to the work of IMO and the persistent efforts of Governments and industry to enhance safety in shipping operations, the number of abandoned wrecks, estimated at almost thirteen hundred worldwide, has reportedly increased and, as a result, the problems they cause to coastal States and shipping in general have, if anything, become more acute.”
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
THE Netherlands has become the fourth country to sign, subject to approval, the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007, joining Estonia, France and Italy, which signed subject to ratification. IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos welcomed the move and urged other States to follow suit, at the earliest opportunity, so that, “as intended, the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention, once in force, can fill a gap in the existing international legal framework by providing the first set of uniform international rules aimed at ensuring the prompt and effective removal of wrecks beyond the territorial sea, thereby also contributing to the IMO goals of safe navigation and marine environmental protection”.
The Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention was adopted in May 2007 and will provide the legal basis for States to remove, or have removed, shipwrecks that may have the potential to affect adversely the safety of lives, goods and property at sea, as well as the marine environment.
The Convention is open for signature until 18 November 2008 and, thereafter, will be open for ratification, accession or acceptance. It will enter into force twelve months following the date on which 10 states have either signed it without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval or have deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with IMO.
The convention will make the registered owner liable for the costs of locating, marking and removing a wreck and by imposing an insurance requirement on ships of 300 gross tonnage and above to cover this liability. The convention also includes an optional clause enabling States Parties to apply certain provisions to their territory, including their territorial sea.
An IMO statement notes: “Although the incidence of marine casualties has decreased dramatically in recent years, mainly thanks to the work of IMO and the persistent efforts of Governments and industry to enhance safety in shipping operations, the number of abandoned wrecks, estimated at almost thirteen hundred worldwide, has reportedly increased and, as a result, the problems they cause to coastal States and shipping in general have, if anything, become more acute.”