Analysis: Tightening rules on tankers

The European Commission says that "substandard ships and floating rustbuckets should disappear from Europe's waters within two years".

Deadlines for single-hulled tankers
2005: Tankers built before 1980 barred from Europe
2007: Tankers built in 1973 or earlier to be withdrawn worldwide
2015: single-hulled vessels to be completely phased-out

French President Jacques Chirac has called for "draconian" maritime measures to be considered at the European Union summit next month in Copenhagen.

Worldwide, single-hull vessels will not be completely phased-out until 2015 - and analysts believe that mounting international calls for the process to be speeded-up are unlikely to be acted on.

Over 50% of the tankers which are currently in use are single-hulled. Experts say there are not enough double-hulled ones to transport oil around the world.

There are currently two aspects of international law which govern oil tankers and spillage of oil from them.

The first regulates the tankers themselves and the second allows compensation for those affected by pollution.

Deadlines

Oil tankers are the responsibility of the state in which they are registered - the flag state. The Prestige, owned by Greek company Mare Shipping and operated by Swiss-based Crown Resources, is registered in the Bahamas.

The flag state itself comes under the 162-member International Maritime Organisation (IMO) based in London which agrees on the standards.

The sinking of the Erika - like the Prestige, a Japanese-built single-hull tanker - off the coast of Brittany in North West France in December 1999 prompted the EU to draw up new legislation.

Tankers that are more than 25-years old will not be allowed to operate in Europe after 2005.

The same 1999 oil spill also led the IMO to agree an accelerated schedule to phase out single-hulled tankers.

The process is due to begin next summer and to be completed by 2015. The deadlines are determined by date of construction and size.

Single-hull tankers built in 1973 and before should be withdrawn by 2007.

But critics say that the regulations give so much leeway that few vessels are actually being scrapped any earlier than they would have been in the normal run of events, according to David Osler, of Lloyd's List shipping newspaper.

Ship owners can claim they built their vessels to the required standards of the time of construction and that ordering their premature removal penalises them unfairly, Mr Osler said.

"The oil industry is dependent on tankers to move its product around the world and what the oil industry wants, the oil industry usually gets," he told the BBC.

Flag states responsible

Other international rules cover the construction, maintenance and operation of the tankers.

"Once the standards are agreed, it is up to the flag state to implement them," said Lee Adamson, spokesman for the IMO.

However, many countries are not satisfied that the regulations are being enforced and have formed themselves into regional groupings to carry out checks themselves.

In Europe, for example, 18 countries are in the Paris Memorandum which initiates about 18,000 checks each year.

Compensation funds

If a tanker causes pollution, then compensation is available from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds). These are paid for by oil companies.

The United States has gone further and has allowed for more punitive payments by tanker owners.

Under conventions governing the funds, a tanker owner has to insure against pollution up to a certain amount, depending on the size of the ship.

In the case of the Prestige it would be about $25m. Unless there has been recklessness in the maintenance of the ship, that is the maximum liability for the owner. Above that, claims go to the international funds to an overall limit of $170m.

Individuals as well as organisations and governments can and do claim.

Earlier incident

An earlier oil disaster occurred off north-west Spain in 1992 when the Greek tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, ran aground in bad weather while approaching La Coruna harbour.

Claims from that amounted to $250m but were only paid at 40% as the incident came under a previous, less generous, process.

Claims for the Erika sinking are still being assessed.

A spokeswoman for the IOPC Funds said she expected claims to come in from people affected by the Prestige in due course.

Under new EU proposals, there would be compensation available up to 1bn euros.