News date: 12 July 2021
Sergey Nedelko, Attorney at Law, Head of Odesa Office of Ilyashev & Partners, delivered a speech on New Procedure for Calculating Damages for the Sea Pollution: Novelties and Possible Impact on the Attractiveness of Ukrainian Ports at Business & Legal Infrastructure Forum, held on 9 July 2021 in Odesa. The event was organized by Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House.
In his report, Sergey noted that today the new procedure for calculating the amount of damage for the pollution of territorial and inland sea waters has a number of significant shortcomings, first of all, the inconsistency of the established losses calculating principle with international practices and conventions, in particular, the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage of 1969, to which Ukraine is a party.
“The concept of the new order actually comes down to imposing a fine for sea pollution on the shipowner, rather than determining the actual losses, for example, for the localization and elimination of the consequences of accident, disposal of the contaminants, death of marine flora and fauna, etc., – Sergey Nedelko noted. – Another significant disadvantage is the lack of an effective mechanism to secure claims for the recovery of losses by provision of the letter of indemnity from P&I clubs, which has been insisted on by maritime lawyers and industry experts. Experience shows that such lack of proper regulation provokes corruption abuses in the port industry, which can affect both the competitiveness of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea region and their investment attractiveness”.
The panelists discussed the implementation problems and prospects for investing in the national infrastructure projects and risks associated therewith, reasons behind the unpopularity of concessions, first experience of concessions in the ports of Ukraine, privatization of seaports’ property and development of the market of regional air and rail transportation.
Business & Legal Infrastructure Forum is an event dedicated to the issues of investment attractiveness and legal protection of infrastructure facilities attended by the government officials, legal advisers of large companies and attorneys of the leading law firms.