Legal Issues at the IMO

The IMO’s Legal Committee met between 13 and 17 April 2026.

This committee deals with any legal matters within the scope of the Organization.

Compensatory Regimes for Alternative fuels

It was noted that existing compensation schemes for damage caused by fuel spills are limited to oil fuels.  Being specific, the Bunkers Convention is officially called the “International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution” and it thus excludes non-oil fuels.

The debate in committee highlighted the current proliferation of ‘alternative’ fuels that are not oil based (although it was noted that LNG and LPG are ‘fossil fuels’). It was also noted that the types of incident and associated damage or harm that can be caused by some alternative fuels may be markedly different from that expected from oil; for example, an ammonia fuel leak will lead to a noxious (and potentially deadly) gas cloud, which is not a matter considered within existing compensation frameworks. 

Work has now commenced to either amend and existing IMO instrument or develop a new IMO liability and compensation framework suitable for alternative fuels.

Best practice on the registration of ships

New guidelines (which are not legally binding) were approved to provide flag States and registries with helpful guidance on the registration of merchant ships engaged in international voyages.

Key aspects include:

• Due diligence on ownership and ship identification.
• Due diligence on ship identity and eligibility checks, particularly the IMO number.
• Checks on Classification and insurance.

Controversially, the guidelines include a “cross-check against United Nations and relevant national sanctions”. Some delegations pointed out that only UN sanctions lists should be considered as having sufficient legal status for inclusion under such checks.

It was noted that effective communication and transparency among flag States is essential for preventing fraudulent registration and ensuring confidence in the global ship registration system.

Seafarer Abandonment

The Committee received a report that the number of cases of seafarer abandonment continues to rise annually, in 2025 by 31%.  In 2025, the joint ILO/IMO database received 409 cases of abandonment, involving 6,264 seafarers on 364 different vessels - this includes 13 cases involving abandonment of fishers. (2024 = 312 cases; 2023 = 132 cases).

It was noted that since January 2026, up to the date of this meeting, 103 further abandonment cases have been added to the ILO/IMO database.

Acknowledgement

The Nautical Institute was represented at the Legal Committee by Captains Chris O’Flaherty AFNI and Andre LeGoubin MNM FNI.