A Review of International and Regional ‎Documents in Connection with Prevention of ‎Marine Oil Pollution and Damage Compensation

Although a lot of credible studies show that the trend of oil pollution of the marine environment is going down, unfortunately, the said pollution still continues. The most important reasons for the continuation of marine pollution by oil are the following: the exceptions concerning the internal waters of states and concerning the ships and aircraft that have sovereign immunity, discharge of specified quantities of oil and garbage by most international and regional documents, a lot of international and regional documents having only general and non-technical obligations and lack of effective guarantees that ensure the respect of the rules of the international and regional documents by the member states. Lack of liability and compensation rules in some of the international and regional documents, non-existence of observing organizations to monitor the consistency of the states’ behaviors with the conventions, in addition to the logistical problems like lack of port facilities in connection with discharging ship’s wastes are other reasons why the maritime pollution by oil is still unresolved.