School of Law, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, Anhui, China; Walther Schücking Institute for International Law, Kiel University, Kiel 24118, Germany.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2024 Oct;207:116884. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116884. Epub 2024 Sep 7.
Autonomous ships are seen as the next generation of ships to meet sustainability challenges. While abundant studies have noted the potential of autonomous ships to be emission-free and reduce air pollution, research has paid scant attention to the significant uncertainties of the autonomous shipping that may lead to new environmental risks such as traffic incidents and oil spills. It is therefore necessary to assess the compatibility of the autonomous ships with international environmental laws and regulations. An analytical framework of international law on ship-source pollution has been proposed to contemplate such a legal assessment. Autonomous ships would challenge the relevant treaty provisions on preventing, combating and compensating for ship-source pollution and raise a number of new legal issues, resulting in a current lack of legal predictability and certainty. Only as autonomous ships become more widely tested, recognised and trusted will a robust roadmap for legalising MASS become clearer.
自主船舶被视为应对可持续发展挑战的下一代船舶。虽然大量研究指出了自主船舶具有零排放和减少空气污染的潜力，但研究很少关注自主航运可能带来的重大不确定性，例如交通事故和溢油等新的环境风险。因此，有必要评估自主船舶与国际环境法律法规的兼容性。已经提出了一个关于船舶来源污染的国际法分析框架，以考虑这种法律评估。自主船舶将对有关防止、打击和赔偿船舶来源污染的相关条约条款提出挑战，并引发一些新的法律问题，从而导致目前缺乏法律的可预测性和确定性。只有当自主船舶得到更广泛的测试、认可和信任，才能更清楚地制定出使 MASS 合法化的稳健路线图。
