Dubai continues to develop maritime legal expertise

LIKE much else in the business environment of the United Arab Emirates, the maritime laws are of relatively recent origin.

The UAE (and particularly Dubai) has a long and rich maritime and trading tradition, but it was not until 1970, with the Sharjah maritime law, that modern legislation sought to regulate and facilitate such activities. But the real milestone in UAE maritime law was reached in 1981, with the enactment of the federal maritime law.

The maritime law, which is based very largely on the maritime laws of Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, is now the source of eighty per cent of the statute law relevant to maritime transport in UAE waters. It is a comprehensive code covering the carriage of goods by sea (where Hague and Hague Visby Rules principles are applied), ownership, registration and mortgaging of ships, ship safety, pilotage and towage, charter parties, carriage of passengers by sea, collision and salvage, pollution, general average, ship arrest and liens, and marine insurance.

Many of its provisions are based on international conventions, or the maritime legislation of European and other Arab states, and are therefore fairly accessible to western maritime lawyers. The UAE has acceded to the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and the 1971 Fund Convention, together with all relevant protocols.. The UAE is also about to enact a very sweeping environmental law, which will deal with both marine and non-marine pollution in a way which, it is hoped, will not conflict with the relevant international conventions including, of course, the CLC and Fund Convention.

A further indication of the UAE's concern in this area was the rapid enactment in March 1998 of a ban on the carriage of oil products in barges not designed for that purpose. Another recent statutory development of note is the UAE's accession to the 1976 Limitation Convention.

The UAE is essentially a civil law system, and judge-made law therefore has little, if any, formal role to play in developing substantive law. There is however a great deal of maritime litigation in the UAE courts.

UAE ports, and particularly those of Dubai, are amongst the busiest in the world.

The UAE courts are busy with shipping matters, too. They assert jurisdiction over all disputes relating to cargoes shipped from or to UAE ports, notwithstanding the presence of foreign jurisdiction clauses in bills of lading

The UAE courts have something of a reputation for being protective of cargo interests. It is certainly the case that they seem occasionally to interpret the. Hague/Hague-Visby provisions of the maritime law as though they were the Hamburg Rules.

But it is not all one way. There have been important recent decisions of the UAE courts which, for example, have upheld a carrier's defences of fire and inherent vice, absolved a carrier from liability for damage to cargo caused by the relevant port authority, and even - in a very recent case - exempted a carrier from liability for delivery to a named bill of lading consignee without an original bill of lading.

With regard to port state control, it is understood that meetings of the Ministries of Commerce of the Gulf States have taken place to discuss a joint approach. As far as the ISM code is concerned, it is thought that the relevant port authorities are still awaiting instructions from the government and, in the meantime, are applying their own criteria as to acceptable vessels. However, the presence or absence of an ISM certificate of compliance is not at present such a criterion.

Clearly, both port state control and the ISM code are areas where it must be hoped that the UAE will act appropriately and in good time to ensure that the legal and regulatory maritime infrastructure remains as impressive as the physical infrastructure, and indeed meets the highest international standards expected of this important trading nation.