IMO CONVENES DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE TO REVAMP ATHENS CONVENTION

IMO CONVENES DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE TO REVAMP ATHENS CONVENTION    The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations specialized agency given responsibility for the safety of shipping and the prevention of maritime pollution, opened a diplomatic conference on Monday at IMO headquarters in London to revamp a prior ocean passenger convention.
   Delegates will consider how to revise the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, dating to 1974.
   The Athens Convention established a regime of liability of damage suffered by passengers carried on a seagoing vessel. It declared a carrier liable for damage or loss if the incident causing the damage occurred in the course of a voyage and was due to the fault or neglect of the carrier.
   However, the convention allowed a carrier to limit its liability, unless it acted “with intent,” to about $61,100 per carriage.
   The present conference will consider the adoption of a protocol to amend the Athens Convention to insure that “all those likely to be affected by a shipping incident will receive prompt and adequate consideration based on internationally accepted criteria,” an IMO statement said. The diplomatic conference ends Nov. 1
   The IMO’s Legal Committee, meeting Oct. 22-24 in London, will review the text of draft proposed amendments to the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention) and its related Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf, 1988
   The panel will consider expanding the list of offences in article three of the SUA Convention to cover a wide range of terrorist acts.