0370 270 6000
Home arrow Insights & events arrow Resources arrow Blogs arrow The BP oil spill and retrospective legislation

The BP oil spill and retrospective legislation

28 May 2010

Efforts are continuing to contain the oil spill taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. Existing US law makes the parties responsible for an oil spill liable for clean-up costs, but limits to $75 million their exposure to other liabilities. But there is a move in Congress to raise that limit to $10 billion with the intention of applying this law retrospectively to BP.

Laws with retrospective effect are a classic example of a human rights abuse. Equally in a business situation, those seeking and providing insurance should be able to ascertain the costs risk arising. But in some cases the US Supreme Court has upheld such laws as constitutional. One rationale is that such laws are “regulatory” in nature rather than “punitive”. A similar trend for regulatory enforcement has developed in the UK recently with use of “non-criminal” sanctions, such as civil enforcement orders and penalties, which allow for the burden of proof to be lowered due to the “civil” nature of the enforcement.

So does  the US attempt to pass retrospective legislation amount to an abuse of Human Rights – or good economic sense?

Related opinions

Asbestos: Still the UK’s number one occupational killer

A ResPublica report highlighted that asbestos continues to be the UK’s number one occupational killer, with nurses and teachers 3 to 5 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than the general UK population. The House of Commons Work & Pensions Select Committee is investigating how the HSE manages the continued presence of asbestos in buildings.

View blog

Carbon accounting for SMEs: what’s your carbon shoe size?

SMEs need to get a handle on their carbon footprints now to help identify where carbon, and financial savings can be made.

View blog

ESG for Beginners

As you probably know by now, the acronym 'ESG' stands for environmental, social and governance. Although the investment community initially coined the term, it has grown into a larger concept that can be applied more broadly to any business or practice.

View blog

Updated National Crime Agency (NCA) guidance: Shoot for better quality suspicious activity reports (SARs)

The National Crime Agency (NCA) published an updated guidance note for anti-money laundering supervisors targeted at improving the quality of suspicious activity reports (SARs) to make the best possible use of SARs and to minimise unnecessary delays, particularly where a defence against money laundering (DAML) has been sought.

View blog

View all blogs

Mailing list sign up

Select which mailings you would like to receive from us.

Sign up

Quick links

Information

  1. ISO 27001 INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT UKAS
  2. Investors in people
  3. Lexcel
  5. Plain English Campaign Approved

© Copyright Browne Jacobson LLP 2021 - All rights reserved