Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and Others) Act, 1996

Conversion of amounts in units of account into currency of the State for purposes of 1974 Convention.

24.—(1) For the purpose of determining the amount of damages that may be awarded pursuant to the 1974 Convention by any court or other tribunal in proceedings in which the provisions of Article 7 or 8 of that Convention fall to be applied, the value in the currency of the State of a unit of account specified in that Convention shall be taken to be the value, ascertained in accordance with that Convention, in that currency of such of a unit of account on the day of the award or, if its value on that day cannot be so ascertained, its value in that currency on the latest day before such day on which it can be so ascertained.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of the Central Bank and stating that—

(a) a specified amount in the currency of the State is the value of such a unit of account on a specified day, or

(b) the value in the currency of the State of such a unit of account on a specified day cannot be ascertained in accordance with the 1974 Convention and that a specified amount in the currency of the State is the value, calculated in accordance with that Convention, of such a unit of account on a specified day (being the latest day before the first-mentioned specified day on which such value can be ascertained as aforesaid),

shall be admissible as evidence of the facts stated in the certificate.