North Korea Moves Place Focus on Flag and P&I Risks
The quick action to clamp down on oil shipments to North Korea was followed by an equally swift response from flag states and protection-and-indemnity clubs to cut ties with any ship implicated in the trade.
The move comes as third-party service providers face more potential legal risk in dealing with ships, owners or charterers doing business with North Korea.
[...]
Blank Rome lawyer Matthew Thomas, who specialises in compliance issues, says registries, class societies and P&I clubs have improved their vetting of ships for complying with sanctions over the last decade, largely in response to the multi-year sanctions on Iran.
However, the improvement in risk management does not mean those service providers have the responsibility of monitoring ship transits or charter parties.
'Playing policeman'
“All of these organisations have added a lot of compliance expertise to stay on top of sanctions issues,” Thomas says. “But it’s not really their job to play policeman for the US.”
"Owners and charterers need to be careful. Even if your ship has not going anywhere near North Korea, you could end up being blacklisted"
He describes upfront vetting as even more crucial now, due to the secondary sanctions that were imposed in a US law passed in August.
To read the full article, please click here.
"North Korea Moves Place Focus on Flag and P&I Risks," by Michael Angell was published in TradeWinds on January 11, 2018.