NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Kristian Lindhartsen, Lilly Kathrin Relling and Tobias Kilde, Kvale Advokatfirma DA
2.5 Seafarers’ Safety and Owners’ Liability Norway ratified the Maritime Labour Convention on 10 February 2009, and it came into force on 20 August 2013. The Convention is implemented in Norwegian law through the Ship Labour Act and the Ship Safety Act, along with their associ - ated regulations. The Ship Labour Act applies to workers who perform their duties on Norwegian vessels, with its primary objective being to ensure safe labour conditions, equal treatment and the promotion of general welfare for the workers and the work environment. The Ship Safety Act applies to all Norwegian ships and extends to foreign ships within Norway’s territorial waters, economic zone and continental shelf. The overarching objective of the Act is to safeguard life and health, the environment and valuable material by facilitating good ship safety and safety management. Although Norway is a signatory to the Hauge- Visby Rules (HVR), the Hamburg Rules and the Rotterdam Rules, only the HVR have been rati - fied. The HVR have been implemented in the Norwe - gian Maritime Code, albeit with some modifica - tions. For instance, the rules in the Norwegian legislation are more favourable to cargo owners than the HVR stipulates, unless they are express - ly waived by the cargo owner. This relates to two categories of rules in particular: 3. Cargo Claims 3.1 Bills of Lading • under the Norwegian Maritime Code, the owner is responsible for the goods from the time and place when the owner physically
takes over the goods, as opposed to the tackle-to-tackle principle contained in the HVR; and • Chapter 13 of the Norwegian Maritime Code applies special liability provisions for the carriage of deck cargo, as well as livestock, which cannot be derogated from through agreement. 3.2 Title to Sue on a Bill of Lading If the bill of lading is subject to Norwegian juris - diction, any lawful holder of the bill of lading will have title to sue pursuant to the NDA. The pre - requisite is that the claim is a legal claim that is based in law, contract or tort, and the claimant must have both a reasonable need to pursue the claim and an adequate connection with the dis - pute (such as legal or equitable interest). Norway recognises an assignment of title to sue. 3.3 Ship-Owners’ Liability and Limitation of Liability for Cargo Damages The key provisions governing ship-owners’ lia - bility for damage to cargo are Sections 275 and 276 of the Norwegian Maritime Code. As long as the goods are in the custody of the ship-owner or any of their contracted helpers, a reversed burden of proof of liability is applied. This means that the ship-owner is liable for damage to the cargo, unless they can prove that the loss or damage was not due to their own fault or neglect or that of any of their agents or servants. This also applies if the carriage is wholly or partially performed by a sub-carrier. There are, however, certain exceptions. The car - rier is not liable for damage or delays caused by nautical errors or fire (unless caused by the negligence of the carrier), unless the ship-owner has failed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the vessel was seaworthy on departure.
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