ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: José Miguel Oliveira, António Caxito Marques, Caio de Mello Ferreira and João Saiago Canjeque, VdA
5.3 Liability in Personam for Owners or Demise Charterers It is not required for the owner to be liable in persona for arrest of a vessel to be accepted. Pursuant to Arti - cle 3 (4) of the Brussels Convention, if the charterer (and not the registered owner) is liable in respect of a maritime claim relating to a vessel, in the context of a charter by demise of a vessel, the claimant may arrest such vessel or any other vessel in the ownership of the charterer by demise, even though no other vessel in the ownership of the registered owner shall be liable to arrest in respect of such maritime claim. The above- mentioned regime shall apply to any case in which a person other than the registered owner is liable in respect of a maritime claim relating to that vessel. 5.4 Unpaid Bunkers A bunker supplier may arrest a vessel for unpaid bun - kers under Article 1 (1)(k) of the Brussels Convention. Moreover, by reference to Article 3 (4) of the Brussels Convention, it is also defensible that the bunker sup - plier may seek the arrest of the supplied vessel even where the bunkers were ordered by the charterer and The original power of attorney should be provided to the court and attached to the arrest application, unless it is not available. In the latter case, it is pos - sible to request leave from the tribunal to submit the original power of attorney at a later stage (a scanned (colour) copy of the original power of attorney being submitted with the application whenever available). Where issued abroad, powers of attorney are only accepted and enforceable if previously notarised, legalised, translated into Portuguese and, finally, con - sularised before Angola’s embassy or consulate with jurisdiction over the country of their issuance. Documentation Regarding the documentation, and even though courts are entitled to the originals, it is common prac - tice to accept scanned copies of these. In addition, documents should be written in Portuguese; other - wise, the parties must submit the documents in their original language, along with their certified Portuguese not by the vessel’s owners. 5.5 Arresting a Vessel Powers of Attorney
(10) any unpaid portion of the price due in connection with the purchase of a vessel; (11) costs incurred in connection with the repair of the vessel, her appurtenances and equipment accruing during the last three years; (12) unpaid amounts arising from shipbuilding con - tracts; (13) outstanding insurance premiums over the vessel, if insurance coverage was taken in total, or over the covered part of her appurtenances not mentioned in (11); and (14) sums due to shippers in respect of loss or dam - age to cargo. Liens mentioned in points (1) to (9) above are under - stood to refer to those incurred during, and as a cause of, the last voyage. The term “last voyage” has been interpreted by legal authors and courts in two ways: • Under a restrictive interpretation, only claims that arise during and become due in connection with the last voyage benefit from the maritime lien. Ear - lier claims are treated as ordinary debts, with the burden of proof resting on the creditor. • Under a broader interpretation, the privilege applies to all claims listed under Article 578, regardless of the voyage during which they arose. In this view, the reference to the last voyage serves only to rank the privileged claims, with priority given to the most recent. Indemnities for injuries of crew are foreseen in Article 529 of the Commercial Code and, provided the conditions set out therein are met, are recognised as maritime liens in points (2) and (6) above. Maritime claims are those set forth in Article 1 (1) of the Brussels Convention, including liabilities resulting from contracts for chartering a vessel, and in respect of which a vessel may be arrested under the terms of the Convention.
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