해상유류오염손해배상체계에서 STOPIA, TOPIA 협정에 관한 연구 －내용과 국내도입여부를 중심으로－

Abstract

The international compensation regime for damage caused by spills of persistent oil from laden tankers was based initially on two IMO conventions - the 1969/1992 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (1969/1992 CLC) and the 1971/1992 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (1971/1992 FC). In May 2003 a Supplementary Fund (2003 SF) was established at the IMO through a new protocol that increases the amount of compensation in States that ratify it to about US$1.2 billion. Under the 2003 Supplementary Fund Convention, oil receivers bear more heavy responsibility than shipowners. To ease the burden on oil receivers, two voluntary agreement has been reached amongst owners of tankers indemnified through members of the International Group of P&I Clubs to introduce the Small Tanker Oil Pollution Indemnification Agreement (STOPIA 2006) and the Tanker Oil Pollution Indemnification Agreement (TOPIA 2006). Under the terms of STOPIA 2006 the liability in respect of incidents involving small tankers up to 29,548 GT is increased to about US$33 million. STOPIA 2006 applies to incidents involving participating tankers in all 1992 Fund Member States. TOPIA 2006 provides for indemnification of the 2003 Supplementary Fund for 50% of the amounts paid in compensation by that Fund in respect of incidents involving tankers entered in one of the P&I Clubs which are members of the International Group. After the 2007 Hebei Spirit incident, Korea has ratified the 2003 Supplementary Fund Convention(SFC) at May 6, 2010. So it is the time that we have to be concerned about STOPIA and TOPIA. In this paper, I examine the STOPIA 2006 and TOPIA 2006, and I express my opinions on some legal issues.