Regional workshop on the compensation regime for the WACAF countries

As part of the Global Initiative for West, Central and Southern Africa (GI WACAF Project) the IOPC Funds were invited to help deliver a sub-regional workshop on liability and compensation in Swakopmund, Namibia from 30 October – 1 November 2013. Mark Homan, Claims Manager, together with representatives from IMO, IPIECA and ITOPF gave presentations on the compensation regime, the criteria for admissibility of claims, and the current legislative position in the WACAF States. They also ran exercises and held discussions during the course of the three-day workshop, which attracted representatives from five States, namely: Ghana, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. The key issues highlighted during the workshop programme, included the potential consequence for a Member State which fails to properly implement the 1992 Conventions into national law, an increasingly important issue that those types of workshops help addressing.
The workshop preceded the GI WACAF bi-annual regional conference organised for the following week. The GI WACAF Project, launched in 2006 and covering 22 countries, is a partnership between the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and eight oil companies (BP, Chevron, ENI, ExxonMobil, Marathon, PERENCO, Shell and Total), through IPIECA, the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues. Visit www.giwacaf.org for further information.