The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether or not the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution, 1969, drafted under the initiative of IMCO, applies to a case where all parties and interests involved are nationals, in this case Spanish. The facts of The Urquiola case can be summarised as follows. On May 23, 1976, the Spanish tanker Urquiola, owned by the Artola Shipping Co., from Spain, was proceeding towards La Coruña. She ran aground on submerged rocks in the narrow channel of Coruña Bay, and the master ordered the 37 crew to abandon ship. The vessel caught fire and part of her 110,000-ton cargo of crude oil started pouring into the sea. The Urquiola’s master was lost with his ship. Experts declared that the wreck of the Urquiola threatened to become a major ecological and economic disaster for Galicia’s tourism and fishing industries. Local authorities asked the Government to declare La Coruña a disaster area and grant $15 million in funds to help to clean up its oily waters.

1. The Brussels Convention of Nov. 29, 1969, on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution entered into force on June 19, 1975, on fulfilment of the requirements established in its art. XV. Although the Civil Convention has received the necessary number of ratifications, there are some important exceptions (i.e., the United States). But the likelihood is that the Convention will soon govern the bulk of world shipping. At the present time there is no doubt that the Liability Convention is the basic international law on oil pollution.

2. The consideration that the Convention has been incorporated as Spanish domestic law is prompted by three arguments: the new wording of the preliminary title of the Civil Code, the State Council’s doctrine and scholars’ opinion.

2A. The fifth paragraph of art. I of the Civil Code establishes that:—“the provisions contained in International Treaties shall not apply directly in Spain while they should not have been passed as forming part of domestic legal system by their publication in the ‘Official State Gazette’.” From this precept two clear conclusions can be drawn: (a) the mechanism of incorporating an International Treaty into an effective domestic system consists in the publication of the Treaty in the “Official State Gazette”; (b) that the application of the internal laws is obligatory for all State powers (judiciary, legislative and executive). As the instrument of ratification of the Convention by Spain, and the text of the Treaty, were published in the “Official Bulletin” on Mar. 8, 1976 (page 4789), the process of incorporation has been achieved by par. 5 of art. I of the Civil Code which converts the aforementioned Convention