The Interrelations between Compulsory Insurance of Shipowners for Maritime Claims and the Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability: a Case of Lack of Coordination in Italy among Disciplines of Different but Complementary Subjects

Over the last century, legislative measures that impose mandatory insur-ance in the field of maritime navigation have been introduced with increasing frequency, on both national and an international basis. The outcome of this regulatory process is represented by the introduction of a system of rules aimed at ensuring better protection to injured parties and restoring competition among economic operators, providing measures to limit the presence of ships that do not comply with adequate standards. The set of these regulatory instruments is called the “Third Maritime Safety Package” and the Directive 2009/20/ EC, on the insurance of shipowners for maritime claims, is included as an integral part thereof, being applied to ships of 300 gross tonnage or more and providing for the obligation of shipowners to take out adequate insurance covering their ships. The choice of introducing legislation by means of a Directive has led to differences in the implementation process of the individual Member States, rais-ing some issues mainly linked to the identification of the subjects, risks and type of ships that should fall within the scope of the Directive. In this context, as the fulfilment of the obligations imposed by the Di-rective is under each State’s competence, the article will analyze the approach adopted by the Italian Legislator through the Legislative Decree no. 111/2012 which introduced rules aimed at complying with the “new” insurance regime and unfortunately led to some inconsistencies in the Italian legal framework in the sector, especially in relation to the discipline concerning the shipowner’s limita-tion of liability.