Due recenti e divergenti sentenze in tema di risarcimento del danno all'ambiente marino da inquinamento da idrocarburi

Two decisions rendered in 2008 by an American and a French Court, relating respectively to the Prestige and the Erika cases, provide divergent interpretations of the international treaties applicable in the field of compensation for oil pollution to the marine environment. The open questions relate, inter alia, to the liability of certain subjects different from the owner of the ship, such as the person who exercises a control on it, the owner of the cargo or the classification company, and the determination of damage to the marine environment, in particular as regards the so-called pure environmental damage (or ecological damage).