Lithuania undergoes legal facelift
TODAY, Lithuania, together with Estonia and Latvia, is on the verge of membership of the European Union. Its quest for membership has required Lithuania to make major strides in addressing the need to integrate its legal system with that of its European partners. In addition to thousands of amendments to its laws governing the economic, judicial, social and political spheres, Lithuania’s important maritime sector has also witnessed significant recent legal modifications and change.
These recent developments in Lithuanian maritime laws and regulations follow a twelve-year period in which the former state-controlled maritime trade has been privatised and deregulated. As a result of the privatisation of Lithuania’s stevedoring and other commercial maritime companies, which occurred during the late 1990s, the ice-free Klaipeda seaport on the Baltic Sea is now highly competitive, ensuring equal business conditions for all economic entities seeking to use its port facilities, including shippers and railways located in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Recent legal developments in Lithuanian maritime law are fundamental and far-reaching in their scope. In order to comply with EU requirements on safety assurance and other relevant EU directives, a new Lithuanian Maritime Safety Law was adopted in 2000. This forced a reorganisation of the Klaipeda Seaport Authority, which has served as the main operator of Klaipeda Seaport since 1991. As a result of the reorganization, all navigation/safety related functions of the Klaipeda Seaport Authority were separated and transferred to new, independent institutions.
One of these new institutions is the Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration, which began operating as an independent organisation on June 25, 2002. The Maritime Safety Administration is mainly responsible for the supervision of safety requirements with respect to Lithuanian shipping and the implementation of maritime safety standards. The Klaipeda Seaport Authority was left with responsibility for the collection of port dues, lease of port land, and maintenance of port infrastructure.
The regulation of Klaipeda Seaport also experienced significant improvements. For example, new Klaipeda Seaport shipping regulations and regulations for the use of the Klaipeda Seaport were approved by an order of the minister of transport in 1998, implementing necessary EU legislation in the field of shipping.
In addition, new rules on the certification of maritime equipment and the registration of seagoing vessels, approved by the minister of transport, entered into force in 2002, being in complete accordance with EU legislation on marine equipment and on the transfer of ships from one register to another.
Amendments to Lithuanian national legislation concerning inland waterway transport were also adopted by the Lithuanian parliament, or ‘Seimas’, in 2000. Recent amendments to the Inland Water Transport Code, together with the adoption of relevant secondary legislation, were made to ensure a free market in inland water transportation services, and new rules on transportation of goods by inland waterways and rules on registration of inland waterway vessels were approved by the Lithuanian government in compliance with EU regulations.
It is also important to mention the adoption of the new Lithuanian Civil Code. The code, which entered into force on July 1, 2001, defines the relationship between transport enterprises, sets forth the main requirements for freight transportation and forwarding agreements, and also establishes the main principles for combined transport hauliers’ liability. Though ship arrest matters are still regulated by the Code on Civil Procedure, the process for ratification of the Brussels Arrest Convention of 1952 is now under way.
Along with European integration, Lithuania, as a member of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), is taking an active part in discussions regarding IMO’s key international agreements governing liability and compensation, maritime safety, marine pollution and other matters. Lithuania has also recently ratified the 1965 Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (allowing for the simplification and reduction of the necessary documentation formalities for ships arriving, standing and sailing from Klaipeda seaport), the 1969 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, and the 1989 International Convention on Salvage.
Important international agreements such as the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims and the Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea are also now awaiting Lithuania’s ratification.
These recent developments are by no means the final legal developments in Lithuania’s efforts to reform its maritime laws. The Lithuanian Shipping Development Strategy, prepared in 2002 by the ministry of transport, clearly sets forth Lithuania’s commitment to seek further implementation of international and European regulations for its maritime sector, with the aim of attracting greater foreign investment in the nation’s shipping operations and port facilities.