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

Application of 1974 Convention where defendant a national of non-Protocol state.

25.—(1) If, as respects the application, by virtue of Article 2 of the 1974 Convention, of the provisions of that Convention in particular proceedings, any state referred to in that Article is not a party to the 1976 Protocol, the provisions of that Convention, without the amendments thereof effected by the said Protocol, shall apply in relation to any defendant in those proceedings who is a national of the said state.

(2) For the purposes of such application of the provisions of the 1974 Convention in relation to a defendant aforesaid, the official value in the currency of the State of a franc referred to in Article 9 of that Convention (“the gold franc”) shall be taken to be the official value in that currency of the gold franc on the day of the award concerned or, if its value on that day cannot be ascertained, on the latest day before such day on which it can be ascertained.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), 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 a gold franc on a specified day, or

(b) the value in the currency of the State of a gold franc on a specified day cannot be ascertained and that a specified amount in the currency of the State is the value of a gold franc on a specified day (being the latest day before the first mentioned specified day on which such value can be ascertained),

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