A comparative study on liability issues concerning maritime transportation of dangerous goods: International and Chinese perspectives

Abstract

The subject of dangerous goods as it pertains to carriage by sea is of growing importance and concern because it impacts on safety as well as environmental issues. Both involve liability associated with maritime transportation and liability in respect of dangerous goods is a complex area of law both from an international as well as a domestic perspective. China is a rapidly emerging economic power and a major world player in shipping and seaborne trade including import and export of hazardous substances. Furthermore, China is undergoing remarkable reform and transformation in all respects, and legal regimes, especially in the maritime field, are in a state of evolution.
This thesis presents a two-fold area of concentration, that is, the international regime and the domestic Chinese law, looking at the safety as well as the environmental dimensions of international carriage of dangerous goods by sea. In order to carry out a comparative analysis of the international and Chinese legal regimes pertaining to the issues of contractual and tortious liability, a relatively detailed analytical examination of the international regime has been completed. Following this, the legal regime under Chinese law concerning the sea carriage of dangerous goods is critically evaluated in terms of the evolution of the domestic maritime law and the issues of application of international law and domestic law from the perspectives of regulatory law and civil liability. The discussion on the existing issues liability is centered on the principles of liability in tort and contract borne by private parties and state responsibility in respect of damage arising from the maritime transportation of dangerous goods.
Conclusions are drawn from the summaries of chapters highlighting the critical issues in light of the findings of the research; the appropriate recommendations and suggestions for improvements to the international regimes; and proposals for law reform in the form of new legislation or amendments to existing legislation with the aim of improving the domestic regime to bring it into closer alignment with international law on the carriage of dangerous goods by sea.