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China Claims "State Indemnification" for Chemical Pollution
On the morning of April 17, a freighter of the Republic of Korea collided with another freighter of Hong Kong on the sea near the estuary of the Yangtze River. Some 701 out of the total 2,000 tons of styrene carried in the cargo-ship of the ROK were leaked into the sea, resulting in serious pollution of territorial water and air nearby.
Having proved it as the world's most serious accident of styrene leakage through investigation, the relevant department of China claimed for an "state indemnification" of US$8 million to the troublemakers.
As reported the "state indemnification" is still a new term in China and employed for the first time in judiciary practice since the promulgation of the "Law on State Ocean Environment Protection of the People's Republic of China" in April of 2000. Pursuant to the relevant provisions of the law, when serious leakage of crude oil or other chemical products occur to ships within the marine belt of China, the Chinese Government shall have the right to demand the ship in question to indemnify the damage to the Chinese marine environment.
As told by an official in charge, the money to be obtained from the state indemnification will be mainly used for cleaning of and supervising over the polluted marine area which may last as long as decades of years. In his opinion, the US$8 million is just an initial estimation of experts on environment protection while the actual loss of marine resources of China is surely to be larger than the estimation.
Also reported is that the two ships-owners have handed in about US$1 million as fine for compensating the expenditure in the treatment of the styrene yet the final agreement on the "state indemnification" is still pending for further negotiation.
By PD Online staff member Deng Gang
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