Key dates
Timeline
The Erika spill, from the accident to the court case.
8 December 1999 | The Erika leaves Dunkirk (France) bound for Livorno (Italy) with a cargo of heavy fuel oil from Flanders refinery | |
11 December 1999 | Distress call from the ship's captain, which is then cancelled | |
12 December 1999 |
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13 December 1999 |
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22 December 1999 | POLMAR Land Plan activated for Vendée and Charente-Maritime | |
23 December 1999 |
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24 December 1999 |
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26 December 1999 | First arrivals on the Loire-Atlantique shoreline | |
27 December 1999 | First arrivals on the Vendée shoreline | |
30 December 1999 | Total becomes involved in response: Atlantic Coast Task Force set up | |
31 December 1999 |
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12 January 2000 | 300 million French Francs released to fund response | |
8 February 2000 | French Prime Minister calls together the local councillors of areas affected by the oil spill to present the Government action plan | |
28 February 2000 | Meeting of the CIADT (French interministerial committee on land planning and development) dedicated to the reinforcement of the oil spill response capacity during which it was decided that a scientific network would be set up to monitor the ecological and ecotoxicological consequences of the oil spill, jointly led by INERIS and IFREMER. | |
21 March 2000 | Presentation of Erika I package by the European Commission | |
Early April 2000 | Initial clean-up operations completed, final clean-up begins | |
5 June 2000 | Wreck treatment operations begin | |
Late June 2000 | Army and fire brigades begin to withdraw | |
4 September 2000 | 2,150 birds cleaned and rehabilitated | |
5 September 2000 | Pumping of fuel from the wreck completed | |
Mid-September 2000 | Withdrawal of army troops completed | |
6 December 2000 | Presentation of Erika II package by the European Commission | |
6 November 2001 | Symposium on initial results of national impact monitoring programmes | |
Summer 2002 | Clean-up operations completed | |
22 July 2003 | Erika I package enters into force | |
Late 2004 |
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Early 2005 | Reference work "Marées noires et environnement" directed by the Ministry of Ecology is published | |
December 2005 | Presentation of Erika III package by the European Commission | |
12 February 2007 | Legal proceedings begin | |
16 January 2008 | Paris Criminal Court issues its verdict and finds Total guilty of pollution. The notion of ecological damage is recognised. | |
25 January 2008 | Several parties appeal the decision | |
1st August 2008 | Adoption of the law on environmental liability transposing the European Directive of 21 April 2004 into French law | |
10 March 2009 | Adoption of Erika III package by European Parliament | |
5 October 2009 | Appeal case begins at Paris Court of Appeal | |
30 March 2010 | Paris Court of Appeal delivers its judgment and upholds the conviction of the classification society RINA, G. Savarese, A. Pollara and Total. It also confirms the ecological damage. | |
6 April 2010 | Total announces that it plans to appeal the decision and in the following days the case is taken to the Supreme Court by: the shipowner (G. Savarese), the classification society (RINA), the manager (A. Pollara), Total, as well as many local authorities and parties claiming civil damages. | |
25 September 2012 | The Supreme Court upheld all the previous convictions, putting an end to 13 years of legal proceedings. |