The Compulsory Insurance of Shipowners for Maritime Claims: the Strange Case of the Implementation of the Directive 2009/20/EC in Italy and Its Impacts on the Shipowner's Limitation of Liability
| Autor | Massimiliano Musi |
| Cargo | Senior Assistant Professor in Navigation Law, University of Teramo, National Scientific Qualification to serve as Associate Professor (2017). |
| Páginas | 41-55 |
41
Revista de Derecho del Transporte
N.º 24 (2019): 41-55
* Fecha de recepción del trabajo: 21/04/2019. Fecha de aceptación del trabajo: 14/05/2019.
THE COMPULSORY INSURANCE OF SHIPOWNERS
FOR MARITIME CLAIMS: THE STRANGE CASE
OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE
2009/20/EC IN ITALY AND ITS IMPACTS
ON THE SHIPOWNER’S LIMITATION OF LIABILITY *
Massimiliano Musi
Senior Assistant Professor in Navigation Law
University of Teramo
National Scientific Qualification to serve as Associate Professor (2017)
ABSTRACT
Over the last century, legislative measures that impose mandatory insurance
in the field of maritime navigation have been introduced with increasing fre-
quency, both on national and international basis.
The outcome of this regulatory process is represented by the introduction of
a system of rules aimed at ensuring better protection to injured parties and re-
storing competition among economic operators, providing measures to limit the
presence of ships that do not comply with adequate standards.
The set of such regulatory instruments is called «Third Maritime Safety Pack-
age» and the Directive 2009/20/ EC, on the insurance of shipowners for mari-
time claims, is included as integral part thereof, being applied to ships of 300
gross tonnage or more and providing for the obligation for shipowners to take out
adequate insurance covering their ships.
The choice of introducing legislation by means of a Directive has led to dif-
ferences in the implementation process of the individual Member States, raising
some issues mainly linked to the identification of the subjects, risks and type of
ships that should fall within the scope of the Directive.
In this context, as the fulfilment of the obligations imposed by the Directive
is under each State’s competence, the article will analyze the approach adopted
by the Italian Legislator through the Legislative Decree no. 111/2012 which in-
troduced rules aimed at complying with the «new» insurance regime and unfor-
tunately led to some inconsistencies in the Italian legal framework in the sector,
especially in relation to the discipline concerning the shipowner’s limitation of
liability.
Keywords: compulsory insurance of shipowners, Directive 2009/20/EC,
limitation of liability, Third Maritime Safety Package.
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