해상유류오염의 손해배상에 관한 고찰

Although air transport is faster, carriage of goods by sea is still the major means of transport in international trade. However, there are many potential risks at carriage of goods by sea, so shipowners want to reduce their liability for cargo damage. Limitation of shipowners liability became a part of maritime law, and the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) adopted in 1957. But when the Torrey Canyon disaster was occurred in 1967, the existing limit of shipowners liability is too small to pay compensation for oil pollution damage. In 1969, a conference convened by IMO adopted a convention dealing with the civil liability of the oil pollution. The Civil Liability Convention (CLC) of 1969, which imposed strict liability on shipowners without the need to prove negligence. Another conference was convened by IMO in 1971 which resulted in the adoption of a convention establishing the International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage. If amounts of the compensation for oil pollution damage are bigger than the limitation of CLC, further compensation is available from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Fund). Korea enacted the Oil Pollution Damage Compensation Guarantee Act to enforce CLC and IOPC Fund Convention. In enacting that act, Korea did not adopt the contents of the above International Conventions, but slightly modified the same. In this paper, I examine the International Conventions and Korean law for Sea Oil Pollution Damage, and I address some legal problems in Korean law.