ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.

Sec. Marine Pollution

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1602260

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Marine Environmental Protection: Challenges, Solutions and Perspectives Volume IIView all 14 articles

Addressing Oil Pollution Compensation in China: An Analysis of the CLC and Domestic Fund Models

Provisionally accepted
  • 1School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
  • 2Faculty of Management and Economics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

China's current compensation mechanism for ship-source oil pollution integrates the 1992 Civil Liability Convention with a domestic compensation fund. However, it faces significant challenges in effectively addressing major oil spill incidents. The domestic fund's collection mechanism is inflexible, and the liability cap for individual incidents is too low. Furthermore, the scope of compensation is limited, covering only emergency response expenses, cleanup costs, and direct economic losses in sectors like fishing and tourism, while neglecting long-term ecological damages. As the utilization of supertankers increases, the existing compensation system becomes inadequate to manage the risks associated with large-scale oil spills. Through a multi-dimensional analysis, this study illustrates that joining the 1992 Fund Convention would greatly enhance China's compensation capacity. As the world's largest oil importer, China's anticipated annual contribution of approximately £8 million accounts for less than 0.01% of the oil industry's profits, making it a manageable financial obligation for the industry. By adopting Canada's dual-fund model, which unites international and domestic funds, China could create a more comprehensive compensation system that effectively addresses cross-border incidents and supports long-term ecological restoration. Acceding to the Fund Convention would provide a practical solution to marine environmental risks and reaffirm China's strategic commitment to international responsibility, advancing the vision of a "Community of Shared Future for Mankind" in maritime governance. This transition would position China as pivotal in shaping equitable and sustainable naval policies.

Keywords: ship-source oil pollution compensation, Civil Liability Convention, Fund Convention, Risksharing, maritime governance, limitation of shipowner's liability, dual-layer compensation mechanism

Received: 29 Mar 2025; Accepted: 28 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wu and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Xiaowei Lu, Faculty of Management and Economics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning Province, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.