Merchant Shipping(Liner Conferences) Act 1982

5 Liability of members of conference to be in proportion to their responsibility. U.K.

(1) Where proceedings arising out of the Code are brought against a member of a conference in respect of damage or loss suffered by any person and other members of the conference are also liable (whether jointly or otherwise) in respect of the same damage or loss, the liability of that member to make good that damage or loss shall be in proportion to his responsibility.

The reference above to the liability of other members of the conference is to any such liability which has been or could be established in proceedings brought before the same court or other tribunal by or on behalf of the person suffering the damage or loss; and for the purposes of this subsection it is immaterial by reference to what law the issue of liability was or would be determined.

(2) In ascertaining the responsibility of a member of a conference for the purposes of subsection (1), regard shall be had not only to the member’s part (if any) in the particular matters giving rise to the proceedings but also to his general involvement in the affairs of the conference as shown, for example, by his share of the conference trade, the nature of pooling arrangements to which he is a party and the extent to which he contributes to the administrative expenses of the conference.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply to any proceedings in the United Kingdom and to proceedings elsewhere in which the extent of the liability of a member of a conference falls to be determined by reference to the law of a part of the United Kingdom.

(4) Where in proceedings arising out of the Code—

(a) judgment is given against a member of a conference in respect of damage or loss ccaused to any person, and

(b) the extent of the member’s liability is not determined by reference to subsections (1) and (2),

the member shall not, if it is sought to enforce the judgment in the United Kingdom, be liable to make good any greater proportion of that damage or loss than if the extent of his liability had been determined by reference to those subsections.

(5) A member of an unincorporated conference against which judgment is given, whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, in proceedings arising out of the Code in respect of damage or loss caused by any person by a breach of duty by the conference, shall not, by virtue of section 6(3), be liable to make good any greater proportion of that damage or loss than he would have been if the proceedings had been brought against him and the other members of the conference in respect of a duty owed by all the members of the conference and the extent of his liability had been determined by reference to subsections (1) and (2).

(6) Subsections (4) and (5) shall not affect the enforcement in the United Kingdom of a judgment required to be enforced there by virtue of Part I of the M1 Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933 (judgments given in countries with whom reciprocal arrangements exist) or Part I of the M2 Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 [F1 or [F2 Regulation (EU) No. 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast), as amended from time to time and as applied by virtue of the Agreement made on 19 October 2005 between the European Community and the Kingdom of Denmark on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ No L 299, 16.11.2005, p62; OJ No L79, 21.3.2013, p4)]] .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 5(6) inserted (1.3.2002) by S.I. 2001/3929, art. 5, Sch. 3 para. 17

F2 Words in s. 5(6) substituted (10.1.2015) by The Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/2947), reg. 1, Sch. 4 para. 1 (with reg. 6)

Marginal Citations

M1 1933 c. 13.

M2 1982 c. 27.