NOTE ABSTRACT

Incentives for Reducing Oil Pollution from Ships: The Case for Enhanced Port State Control

By Michelle Cuttler

This note explores two compensation and liability regimes -- the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC) and the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), concluding they are inadequate in compensating for oil pollution damage. The author examines port state control, describing two examples -- the Paris Memorandum of Understanding and the U.S. Port State Control Initiative -- and suggesting how to increase the effectiveness of port state regimes. Cuttler concludes that inadequacies in remedial regimes such as the CLC and OPA warrant efforts to increase the effectiveness of the more forward-looking, preventative port state regimes.