What Challenges Lie Ahead for Maritime Law?

Abstract

An overview is given of the harmonisation of maritime law that has taken place since the beginning of the twentieth century. The future role of the Committees of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in the development of conventions is examined. The recent decisions by the IMO Legal Committee not to develop conventions on two subjects which are not covered by any conventions, namely civil liability for oil pollution caused by offshore activities and recognition of foreign judicial sales of ships, are discussed. The opening of the polar regions to shipping has resulted in the adoption by IMO of the Polar Code and has made it necessary to consider whether existing treaties need to be amended to take into account the unique conditions in these regions. In addition, the emergence of unmanned ships of various types is giving rise to a number of legal problems as regards the interpretation of existing conventions and their adaptation to such craft. The work carried out so far in these two fields is summarized, and a number of the legal issues that require a solution are highlighted.