Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Ship Collision Dispute Cases

Fa Shi [2008] No. 7

May 19, 2008

The Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Ship Collision Dispute Cases has been approved at the 1446th meeting of the judicial committee of the Supreme People's Court on April 28, 2008. The Regulations are hereby promulgated, and shall be implemented as of May 23, 2008.

Appendix: Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Ship Collision Dispute Cases

For the purpose of correctly hearing the ship collision dispute cases, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, Maritime Law of the People's Republic of China, and Special Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China on Admiralty.

Article 1 The ship collision as mentioned in these Regulations, refers to the ship collision as prescribed in Article 165 of the Maritime Code, and shall not include the collisions between inland ships.
These Regulations shall be applied to the damage accident as prescribed in Article 170 of the Maritime Code.

Article 2 To hear ship collision dispute cases, the liability of the colliding ship for compensation shall be defined in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Maritime Code.

Article 3 In case of an infringement dispute arising from ship touches caused by ship collision, the liability of the colliding ship for compensation shall be defined in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Maritime Code.
In case of an infringement dispute arising from ship touches not caused by ship collision, the liability of the colliding ship for compensation shall be defined in accordance with the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, but the application of the Maritime Code shall not be impacted except for Chapter Article 8

Article 4 The liability for compensation caused by ship collision shall be borne by the ship owner. In case the colliding ship is in the bareboat charter period and legally registered, the liability shall be undertaken by the bareboat charterer.

Article 5 The casualty of persons on board due to ship collision shall be the casualty of a third person as prescribed in Item 3 of Article 169 of the Maritime Code.

Article 6 In case the ship cargo loss is caused by mutual faults of both colliding ships and the right holder of ship cargo brings a legal proceeding for breach of contract against the carrier ship, or against one colliding ship or both colliding ships, for compensation, the People's Court shall accept and hear the case in accordance with the law.

Article 7 In case the right holder of ship cargo brings a legal proceeding against the carrier ship that causes the cargo loss due to ship collision, the carrier ship may claim to undertake the liability for compensation according to the proportion of the degree of fault in accordance with Item 2 of Article 169 of the Maritime Code.
The previous paragraph shall not impact the carrier and actual carrier to cite the provisions concerning defence and limitation of liability for compensation as prescribed in Chapter IV of the Maritime Code.

Article 8 In case the right holder of ship cargo of the colliding ships or a third person brings a legal proceeding against one colliding ship, or both ships, for compensation for cargo or other property losses, the colliding ship shall provide the evidence to prove the proportion of the degree of fault. If the colliding ship refuses to provide the evidence without justified reasons, one colliding ship shall fully undertake the liability for compensation, or both ships shall undertake the joint liability for compensation.
The evidence as mentioned in the previous paragraph refers to judgments, awards, mediation letters and arbitral awards. Foreign judgments, awards, mediation letters and arbitral awards submitted by the colliding ship shall be examined pursuant to the procedures prescribed in Articles 266 and 267 of the Civil Procedure Law.

Article 9 In respect of claims for compensation for lifting, removing and demolishing the sunk, wrecked, stranded or abandoned ships due to ship collision, or for ship cargo, or for keeping them harmless, the liable person shall not enjoy the limitation of liability for maritime claims in accordance with Chapter XI of the Maritime Code.

Article 10 When hearing the ship collision dispute cases, evidences acquired by the People's Court according to the application of the party concerned for preservation of evidence, or investigated and collected from relevant departments, shall be presented after the party concerned has completed his burden of proof and issued the completion letter.

Article 11 After the ship collision accident happens, the investigation materials of collision acquired by the competent authority through investigation in accordance with the law and confirmed by the party concerned and relevant persons of the accident may be used as evidence for the People's Court to determine the facts of the case, unless there is evidence to the contrary to revoke it.