JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Jumpei Osada, Masaaki Sasaki, Takuto Kobayashi and Hiroshi Ideyama, TMI Associates
1. Maritime and Shipping Legislation and Regulation 1.1 Domestic Laws Establishing the Authorities of the Maritime and Shipping Courts Domestic Laws Japan has ratified most of the major maritime conventions, such as the Hague-Visby Rules, the latest version of the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) Convention 1976 with its 1996 Protocol, the 1992 Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC) Convention and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (Fund), and relevant rules and regulations. In maritime and shipping practice in Japan, both general civil and commercial law and specific shipping laws/legislation apply, and they are generally based on these conventions. The main domestic laws related to shipping mat - ters are: • the Civil Code; • the Commercial Code; • the Act on International Carriage of Goods by Sea (JCOGSA) incorporating the Hague-Visby Rules; • the Limitation of Liability Act incorporating the latest version of the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) 1976 with its 1996 Protocol; • the Act on Liability for Oil Pollution Damage incorporating the 1992 CLC Convention and Fund Convention, the International Conven - tion on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollu- tion Damage (Bunker) 2001 and the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of
Common Maritime and Shipping Claims One of the common maritime and shipping claims filed in the Japanese jurisdiction is related to cargo claims between carriers and shippers under carriage contracts and/or bills of lading. The claims are essentially classified into con - tractual claims and the shippers’ claims are successful in the event that the carriers can be proven to be in breach of the carriage contract. The cargo claims for domestic sea carriage and international sea carriage are governed by the Commercial Code and the JCOGSA respec - tively. Another key type of claim is a tort claim under the Civil Code, which can be broadly used in cases where the victims attempt to bring a claim for damages against the perpetrators. An exam - ple of this is where the owner of a vessel col - lided with another vessel and would be entitled to make tort claims for damages against the owner of the other vessel. It is worth noting that some general rules of the tort claim under the Civil Code are amended in line with the nature of maritime and shipping claims, such as the stat - ute of limitations. 1.2 Port State Control System of Port State Control Japan has entered into a memorandum of understanding on port state control (PSC) in the Asia-Pacific region (TOKYO MOU). The TOKYO MOU has been used to conduct concentrat - ed inspection campaigns with the other PSC MOUs. Under the New Inspection Regime of the TOKYO MOU, vessels are categorised as either High-Risk Ships, Standard-Risk Ships or Low- Risk Ships, based on a consideration of the ves - sel type and age, flag, recognised organisation, and the number of deficiencies and detentions.
Wrecks 2007; and • the Mariners Act.
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