BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: André Kegels, Kegels Advocaten
2.2 International Conventions: Collision and Salvage Collisions It should be noted that the location of the incident, the type of vessels and the persons involved have an influence on the legislation that will apply. Sea-going vessels colliding on the high seas will be subject to different rules from those colliding on internal waterways. More complex still, there is different legislation for interior barges. Moreover, on rivers and canals, specific rules derogate from the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Col - lisions at Sea, 1972 (COLREGs). The following conventions and regulations apply in Belgium: • the International Convention for the unifica - tion of certain rules of law with respect to collisions between vessels, Brussels, 23 September 1910 (the “1910 Collision Conven - tion”); • the International Convention on certain rules concerning civil jurisdiction in matters of collision, Brussels, 11 May 1952 (the “1952 Brussels Civil Jurisdiction Convention”); • the International Convention for the unifica - tion of certain rules relating to penal jurisdic - tion in matters of collision or other incidents of navigation, Brussels, 10 May 1952 (the “1952 Brussels Penal Jurisdiction Conven - tion”); • the COLREGs; • the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended (SOLAS) and its annexes; • EU Regulation 864/2007, 11 July 2007 (“Rome II”); and • various local navigation regulations regarding the territorial sea, the ports, the rivers, and canals (the “Local Navigation Regulations”).
change in statute law since the NBMC came into force on 1 September 2020. Prior to the NBMC, the Belgian Supreme Court ruled that, once a wreck removal fund has been set up for a sea- going vessel, the authorities are no longer enti - tled to demand that the owner, charterer or oper - ator remove the wreck at the owner’s expense. That principle has now been abandoned under the NBMC, as far as sea-going vessels are con - cerned. The authorities have a direct right of action against the hull or liability (P&I) insurers, which shall not be released from their obligations under the insurance contracts until the claims of the competent authority are satisfied. Wreck removal of sea-going vessels in Belgian interior waters – regional legalisation In 2022, the regional authorities adapted their legislation, to bring it in line with the federal leg - islation. There are some relevant differences, but such nuances are beyond the scope of this guide. Wreck removal of interior barges (and limitation of liability) Interior barges can limit liability, either by appli - cation of the Strasbourg Convention of 2012 on the Limitation of Liability in Inland Navigation (CLNI) or by application of Belgian regional law. If limitation under the CLNI is not possible, the law provides a similar possibility of limitation. Some reservations were made by some Belgian regions when adhering to the CLNI, in terms of pollution and wreck removal, for example. This seems to imply that two separate limitation funds may be required in some circumstances: one for pollution or wreck removal, and one for other liabilities.
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