Intergovernmental organisations are bodies that have been set up by governments and are governed by an assembly of the countries that have signed the underlying international convention, the so called Contracting Parties.

International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds)

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds) are three funds (the 1971 Fund, the 1992 Fund and the Supplementary Fund) which provide compensation for oil pollution damage resulting from spills of persistent oil from tankers. These three funds, which have a joint secretariat in London, were established at different times, have different maximum amounts of compensation and have different Member States.

Under the compensation regime of the 1992 CLC, the owner of a tanker is liable to pay compensation up to a certain limit for oil pollution damage following an escape of persistent oil from his ship. If that amount does not cover all the admissible claims, further compensation is available from one of the IOPC Funds if the damage occurs in a State which is a Member of that particular Fund.

The IOPC Funds do not have large amounts of capital sitting in a bank account, but the capital for the Funds are provided instantly when needed. The capital is provided via the Contracting Parties, which in turn present the bill to the entities that are importing oil into their country, in practice multi-national oil companies.

Anyone who has suffered pollution damage from a tanker incident in the waters of a Contracting Party is encouraged to send in a claim to the IOPC Funds for financial compensation. Information on the types of claims which are admissible is available in the Claims Manuals. In practice the IOPC Funds work closely together with the P&I Club of the ship that has caused the pollution, to deal with the claims received. See the compensation section for more details.