Legal regulation of administrative and criminal liability for pollution by ships of coastal waters: a generalization of the experience of Hong Kong
Currently, pollution standards in coastal waters and the port of Hong Kong are fully consistent with international practice, in addition to them, a standard indicator has been introduced that regulates the amount of smoke emissions per ship. Hong Kong's civil liability regime is currently a fairly comprehensive liability system based on a number of international instruments, such as the 1992 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage. However, unlike the regime of international civil liability,the legal basis for criminal sanctions in the context of pollution by ships is instead left to the discretion of individual states. Thus, the legal model for regulating the ecological state of coastal waters can be characterized as effective and fully in line with international law. However, practice suggests otherwise, the situation is not improving, but continues to deteriorate. The reason for this, according to a number of experts, is the contradiction between the full implementation of international norms in national legislation and the lack of one's own position on the issue of criminal liability for environmental damage. Existing regulations are not strict enough to provide an adequate level of protection for Hong Kong's marine environment. The need to assess both civil and criminal liability for pollution of coastal waters by ships is an important direction for the development of a legal model.