The competent maritime authority is responsible for coordinating the means likely to participate in maritime rescue operations, in application of the International Conventions in force, including that on Maritime Search and Rescue signed in Hamburg on 27 April 1979.
No remuneration is due for people rescued.
Rescuers of human lives who have intervened in the same dangers are entitled to an equitable share of the remuneration for assistance granted to rescuers of the ship, its accessories and cargo.
The action for payment of the remuneration referred to in the preceding article shall be barred after two years from the day on which the operations were carried out.
However, this time limit does not apply if the salvaged vessel could not be seized in waters under the jurisdiction of a Member State.
Every master is bound, in so far as he can do so without serious danger to his ship, crew or passengers, to render assistance to any person, even an enemy, found at sea in danger of being lost.
The shipowner shall not be liable for any contravention of the preceding provision, except in the event of direct and effective intervention by the shipowner.
The preceding provisions are applicable to ships, inland navigation vessels assigned to the public service of each C.E.M.A.C. member state, with the exception of those of article 199, paragraph 2. Articles 192 and 193 are not applicable to State-owned and inland navigation vessels. Notwithstanding the provisions of article 200, the obligations to provide assistance which may be imposed on commanders of naval forces naval forces or naval vessels shall be determined by the code of military justice of each Member State.
The assistant’s or rescuer’s liability for bodily injury or damage to property in direct connection with assistance or salvage operations, within the meaning of the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims signed in London on November 19, 1976, as well as for any other loss or damage resulting from these operations, may be subject to limitation, whatever the basis of liability.
This limitation is subject to the same conditions as those applicable to the limitation of the shipowner’s liability.
The assistant’s or rescuer’s servants are entitled to avail themselves of the limitation of liability under the same conditions as the assistant or rescuer himself.
The limits of liability of the salvor or assistant acting from a vessel other than the vessel rescued are calculated according to the rules laid down for the owner of the vessel in article 104 of the code.
The limits of liability of an assistant or rescuer not acting from a vessel, or vessel, or acting solely on board the rescued vessel, are calculated according to the same rules and on the basis of a gross tonnage of one thousand five hundred within the meaning of article 6, paragraph 5 of the 1969 London Convention on Tonnage Measurement.
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