COLOMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Javier Franco, Franco & Abogados Asociados
10. Additional Maritime or Shipping Issues 10.1 Other Jurisdiction-Specific Shipping and Maritime Issues It is important to note that Colombian law on mari - time subjects has usually been diffuse, and that it is very old-fashioned in various respects. In light of this, the national maritime authority, the DIMAR, has been working on preparing a Draft Maritime Code in recent years, which is now in its sixth version. Some key features of the Draft Maritime Code in its current version are as follows: • the Draft purports to unite the majority of regula - tions applicable to “maritime activities” into just one body of law;
• key “maritime law principles” are expressly con - tained therein; • some provisions of the international conventions are replicated/incorporated into the text of the Draft; • offshore activities are regulated to a certain extent, including the liability of the operator of the plat - form; • limitation of liability of the ship-owner follows the parameters of the 1976 LLMC Convention (adopt - ing the 1996 Protocol’s increased limits); • the Draft adopts the fundamental logic of the Hague-Visby regime regarding the liability of the maritime carrier of goods; and • basic regulations applicable to procedures in cases of maritime accidents are clarified.
181 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook