Merchant Shipping (Civil Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Act 1998 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Liability for Oil Pollution
9. Concurrent liabilities of owners and others
Feedback & supportWhere, as a result of any discharge or escape of oil from a ship or as a result of any relevant threat of contamination, the owner of the ship incurs a liability under section 3 and any other person incurs a liability, otherwise than under that section, for any such damage or cost mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) of that section, then, if —
discharge or escape
“discharge or escape”, in relation to pollution damage, means the discharge or escape of oil from the ship;
the owner has been found, in proceedings under section 7, to be entitled to limit the owner’s liability to any amount and has paid into Court or to the Authority a sum not less than that amount; and
owner
“owner”, in relation to a ship, means the person registered as the owner of the ship, or, in the absence of registration, the person owning the ship, except that, in relation to a ship owned by a State which is operated by a person registered in that State as the ship’s operator, it means the person registered as its operator;
the other person is entitled to limit the person’s liability in connection with the ship by virtue of section 136 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995,no proceedings shall be taken against the other person in respect of the person’s liability, and if any such proceedings were commenced before the owner paid the sum into Court or to the Authority, no further steps shall be taken in the proceedings except in relation to costs.