Claims

The Secretariat strives to provide prompt payment of compensation to victims of oil pollution damage.  In the great majority of cases, claims are settled out of court. The Director has the authority to settle claims and pay compensation up to predetermined levels. However, for incidents involving larger claims or where a specific claim gives rise to a question of principle which has not previously been decided by the governing bodies, the Director needs approval from the relevant governing body of the Fund in question.  In addition, the legal proceedings which arise from those cases where it has not been possible to reach an out of court settlement, can take several years to resolve.  The daily work of the Secretariat therefore focuses both on processing claims relating to recent incidents and also finding resolutions to claims or outstanding issues relating to incidents which may have occurred several years before.

Further information on the claims handling process can be found under the main Compensation section. Detailed information on the incidents listed below as well as on previous incidents dealt with by the 1992 Fund and the 1971 Fund can be found under the  Incidents section.

1992 Fund

The 1992 Fund is currently dealing with 11 incidents.

Supplementary Fund

The Alfa I and Agia Zoni II are the first incidents taking place in a Member State of the Supplementary Fund. It is however very unlikely that either incident will exceed the limit under the 1992 Fund Convention.

To download or print an example Claims Form click here.