Newsletters
Cambodia Maritime Law
1. Introduction
1.1. Until recently1 , media articles drew the attention of national and international professionals to cases relevant to Cambodian maritime law, to be more specifi c, cases of fi shing vessels fl ying Cambodian fl ags. In the legal arena, there have been certain cases of maritime liens and of vessel transfers as well.
1.2. In general, maritime activities, transactions and cases are of a very particular nature, oft en requiring in-depth analysis of all related elements. Unfortunately, Cambodia’s maritime legal framework is still far from being comprehensive; it is very much in its early stages of development which opens a path to research – but which does not enable us to undertake such an in-depth analysis at the moment.
Th is newsletter highlights some recent topics of: classifi cation of vessel, ship registration, ship transfer and maritime lien.
2. Classifi cation of vessel
2.1. Classifi cation of vessel is not the most debated topic. But if we look a little more carefully, it is the fi rst key question in the way that determination of applicable law starts with providing a satisfactory answer to whether a vessel is movable or immovable property. Some ships navigate, some others do not.
2.2. Despite the fact that there are at least six applicable laws and regulations in this area, those laws oft en time do not provide for an undoubted classifi cation of the vessels. Using unclear language, some laws tend toward the classifi cation of “movable”, while some others have a tendency toward the classifi cation of “immovable” for vessels. As an example, the 1992 Land Law considers ships with capacity of more than 30 tons as immovable, while a 2003 Prakas2 stipulates that vessels constitute a particular class of movable.
2.3. With such uncertainty, there is a need to weigh both sides. Time-wise, the 2007 Civil Code is the latest legal text applicable (being implemented in 2012). While this code does not provide for a clear distinction, it tends to apply immovable rules on the vessels.
