The international regime of compensation was established by two international treaties elaborated under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), namely the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and the 1971 Fund Convention. These Conventions were revised by Protocols in 1992, and the revised Conventions, known as the 1992 Conventions, have effectively replaced the original ones. The 1992 Civil Liability Convention governs the liability of the shipowner, whereas the 1992 Fund Convention provides supplementary compensation through the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (1992), financed by a levy on oil receipts in member nations. The total amount of compensation under the 1992 Conventions is US$178 million per incident but will be increased to US$269 million from 1 November 2003. This paper describes briefly the scope and application of the Conventions with reference to specific incidents involving the IOPC Funds, focusing on developments over the past two years. In view of the experience of recent major incidents, the 1992 Fund has set up a Working Group to hold an exchange of views concerning the need for and possibilities of improving the international compensation regime established by the 1992 Conventions. As a first step, the Working Group prepared a draft Protocol establishing an optional third tier of compensation by means of a Supplementary Compensation Fund which would provide additional compensation over and above that available under the 1992 Conventions. The draft Protocol will be considered by a Diplomatic Conference to be held under the auspices of the IMO in May 2003. Certain issues relating to environmental damage have been considered. The Working Group continues its review of the 1992 Conventions and will examine a number of issues, inter alia, shipowners' liability.
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