45 participants from Mediterranean coastal states, states party to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols (known as the Barcelona Convention), as well as Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, attended a regional training course on the Bunkers Convention, 2001 which was organised by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) in Malta between 5 and 7 June.
REMPEC is a Regional Activity Centre based in Malta within the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is administered by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a UN specialised agency.
The training course focused on international conventions on liability and compensation for maritime pollution claims. After a presentation on the general framework set by the LLMC 76/96, lecturers explained the benefits of acceding to the other specific conventions which offered better ways for victims to claim compensation, namely the CLC and Fund 92 Conventions and the Bunkers Convention.
The lecturers included officials from REMPEC and other experts, among them Dr G. M. Gauci, lecturer in law at the University of Swansea, Prof. N. Gaskell from the Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Southampton, Dr J. Wren, former Head of Delegation of the UK at the Legal Committee sessions of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), J. Maura, Head of the Claims Department of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Fund), a representative from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd (ITOPF), and other lecturers from the Hellenic Coast Guard and Skuld P&I Club, one of the world’s leading maritime protection and indemnity clubs.
The three-day training course was organised within the framework of the EU-funded MEDA Regional Project “Euromed Cooperation on Maritime Safety and Prevention of Pollution from Ships – SAFEMED” (MED 2005/109-573) being implemented by REMPEC in 10 Mediterranean partners involved in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Participation at the training course was also extended to the other contracting parties to the Barcelona Convention.