Speech at Panel on Economic Development

Amendments to subsidiary legislation under the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Ordinance (Cap. 413) and the Merchant Shipping (Limitation of Shipowners Liability) Ordinance (Cap. 434) to implement the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and the Convention on Limitation of Liability of Maritime Claims

The proposals

Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that the proposed increase of the liability limits by 51% only reflected the monetary values changed due to inflation from 1996 to 2012. As inflation had further increased since 2012, he enquired if the Administration would consider increasing these limits further so as to reflect the overall accumulated inflation. In response, Ag. DSTH advised that as a general rule, Hong Kong was obliged to follow IMO’s requirements on this subject. The proposed legislative exercise was to incorporate the latest limits set by IMO into the local legislation.

Mr CHAN Chun-ying was also concerned whether the new liability limits would be applied to the outstanding claims arising from the vessel Action – 8 – collision incident near Lamma Island on 1 October 2012, so that relevant bereaved family members and injured passengers might receive higher compensation. To this end, he asked whether the application of the new liability limits would be based on the time when the court handed down its judgments of respective claims, or the time of occurrence of the maritime incidents.

Ag. DSTH explained that the new liability limits would be applied based on the time of occurrence of the maritime incidents. On the Lamma incident, she understood that the Hong Kong Electric Company Limited, one of the defendants, had reached settlements with some bereaved family members and injured passengers out of court in respect of their civil claims. The amount of compensation reached in the settlements was not affected by the new liability limits.