On 13 November 2002 the tanker Le Prestige, flying the Bahamas flag, started losing oil in the Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone approximately 30 kilometers from Galicia. On 19 November 2002 a tugboat came to rescue Le Prestige and brought it back to port. Unfortunately, the vessel broke and sank off the coast of Vigo (Spain). Due to this shipwreck, a significant amount of hydrocarbons leaked and polluted the French Exclusive Economic Zone. Therefore, on 26 February 2010 the French State summoned the ABS Group (composed of three US companies: the American Bureau of Shipping, ABSG Consulting Inc and the ABS Group of Companies) before the Ordinary Court of First Instance of Bordeaux in order to compensate for the damage caused by the oil pollution. The ABS Group was the private entity chosen by the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to perform classification and certification of vessels before they are allowed to sail. The French State blamed the entity for not having noticed building failures on the vessel and having committed errors in their classification activity. However, the ABS Group claimed the benefit of immunity from jurisdiction because, contrary to what the French State claimed, its activity was not classification but certification. In the present case, the certification activity is actually a public service mission under national sovereignty, meaning that the ABS Group could invoke immunity. Because both activities were so entangled, it was not possible to distinguish them. On 19 March 2014 the Ordinary Court of First Instance of Bordeaux dismissed the request of the French State. Its decision followed the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Paris in the Erika Case, delivered on 30 March 2010. The French Government appealed this judgment to the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux. 

Held: Judgment below reversed and the French State's application granted. The grounds of this decision were mainly based on the application of art 236 of UNCLOS 1982: 'the protection and preservation of the marine environment do not apply to any warship, naval auxiliary, other vessels or aircraft owned or operated by a State and used, for the time being, only on government non-commercial service'. State vessels with a non-commercial use can benefit from national immunity, in order to protect maritime activities carried out by States and considered as less polluting. Concurrently, State vessels engaging in a commercial activity are classified as private vessels, which means they cannot benefit from any kind of immunity. In this peculiar case, the vessel Le Prestige did not correspond to the type of vessels coming under the terms of art 236 of UNCLOS. Thus, the ABS Group would be liable from both a criminal and a civil standpoint if they did not perform their contractual obligations correctly, without the possibility to invoke any sort of immunity. They indeed made mistakes during the mandatory inspections mentioned in the contract between them and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The Court of Appeal of Bordeaux therefore overturned the previous judgment and granted the French State's application only in so far as it held the ABS group liable for its activity of classification. 

[For the unsuccessful appeal in cassation to the Cour de cassation, see CMI1191.]