China has established a regulatory body to oversee compensation cases related to oil spills from ships.
The commission, made up of seven government departments, will manage a statutory-managed compensation fund of more than USD 51 million and be in charge of handling compensation claims. The funds have been collected from shippers and their agents as of 2012.
“This marks a new milestone for China’s compensation mechanism for ship-caused oil pollution and will better safeguard the interests of the victims of accidents,” said He Jianzong, deputy transport minister is reported as saying by Want China Times at the inauguration ceremony, held on June 18th.
China has set up the fund in order to be able to compensate damage claims to oil spill victims and at the same time finance ecological recovery of the affected areas as the previous legislative framework allowed for limited damage compensation for the said purposes.
A total of 3,200 oil spill accidents occurred in the seas around China, with spilled oil amounting to 42,936 tons over the last 40 years, with 91 oil spills exceeding 500,000 tons each, according to the data reported by the National Business News.
World Maritime News Staff; Image: Greenpeace