On Saturday 18 August 1990, 16 months and 25 days after the Exxon Valdez grounded in Prince William Sound, President Bush finally signed into law the new Federal Oil Pollution Act. For shipowners and their P. & I. Clubs its progress through the two Houses of Congress has been one of the best publicized exercises in legislation ever witnessed. What is regrettable for the maritime and insurance industries has been that, notwithstanding that publicity and some intensive lobbying of all concerned as to the legal and practical problems posed by some of the more extreme measures, so little attention has been paid to those who will have to work within the framework of the new legislation. The Act itself runs to some 80 sections divided into nine chapters and some of those are sub-divided. Only the first 20 sections deal with liability and compensation; the remainder cover such matters as prevention and removal, nationally and internationally, as well as provisions relating to Prince William Sound and the Trans-Alaska pipeline system and oil pollution research and development. It is to the first chapter or title, however, that most will turn because of the immediate importance of the rules relating to liability and compensation.

Liability

The Act begins with a list of definitions, of which but two need be mentioned at this stage. The framework of this Act is centred around the “responsible party”, which so far as concerns a vessel is defined as “any person owning, operating or chartering by demise, the vessel”. A “vessel” is defined as “every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water other than a public vessel”. Hence, tankers apart, this Act covers not merely dry cargo vessels, but even pleasure yachts.

Strict liability means that fault is to all intents and purposes irrelevant. There are