China’s revised Maritime Code and vessel-source oil pollution liability: innovations, gaps, and reform pathways

Vessel-source oil pollution remains a central concern in marine environmental governance because oil spills may spread rapidly, persist in the marine environment, and cause serious ecological and socio-economic harm. China has traditionally regulated vessel-source oil pollution through rules dispersed across civil, environmental, maritime, insurance, and administrative law. The revised Maritime Code of the People’s Republic of China, adopted in 2025 and effective from 1 May 2026, introduces China’s first dedicated chapter on Liability for Oil Pollution Damage from Ships. Distinct from prior scholarship that primarily analyzed draft proposals or focused narrowly on specific compensation mechanisms like the CLC vs. domestic fund models, this article offers an incremental contribution by conducting a comprehensive assessment based on the final promulgated text. It proposes a phased reform pathway to address emerging uncertainties and provides forward-looking risk assessments regarding non-spilling vessels in collisions, alternative fuels, and ecological damage valuation. By evaluating the finalized chapter against the 1992 Civil Liability Convention, as amended, the 2001 Bunkers Convention, and China’s pre-existing domestic framework, it argues that the revised Code advances systematic integration by clarifying liable parties and defences, establishing strict liability, placing compulsory insurance and direct action on a statutory basis, elevating the domestic compensation fund to statutory status for the first time, and differentiating the limitation treatment of persistent cargo oil and bunker oil. Important uncertainties nevertheless remain concerning collisions involving a non-spilling vessel, the valuation of ecological damage, coordination between applicable limitation regimes, non-persistent oil carried as cargo, and hazardous and noxious substances and alternative fuels. The article proposes a staged reform pathway combining interpretation of the existing Code, judicial and administrative implementation, regional cooperation, and participation in international rule-making.