204
U. MIAMI INT'L & COMP. L. REV.
V. 23
2012, 49 even though PAL 2002 had not yet entered into force
at the time.
B. Development
"The rise of passenger law Regulations in [EU]
transport law is one of the most dynamic consumer policy
developments in recent years." 50 In particular, the shipping
sector has new legislative developments that have often been
the product of major disasters. 51 At first glance, one might be
tempted to think that the 2009 PLR was not immediately
inspired by such a disaster, but in fact, the PLR can be seen
as part of a process, which began with the Herald of Free
Enterprise and Estonia disasters. 52 While safety issues were
often addressed in the wake of these disasters, it took some
time for passenger rights to develop in the maritime sector:
"Compared to this avalanche of European safety regulation,
establishing a (private law) liability regime for passengers is
a slow process. Setting up an international framework on
passenger rights in sea transport was first attempted in the
49 Das Weißbuch, supra note 40, at 214.
50 Jens Karsten, European Passenger Law for Sea and Inland Waterway
Transport, 2 Y.B. OF CONSUMER L. 201, 201 (2008).
51 Nicholas Gaskell, Compensation for Offshore Pollution: Ships and
Platforms, in Maritime Law Evolving: Thirty Years at Southampton
63, 63 (Malcolm Clarke ed., 2013), available at
https://books.google.fi/books?id=AITqAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT94&lpg=PT
94&dq=maritime+law+reaction+disaster&source=bl&ots=GVbluOC9Tf&
sig=kckZCfFlzuZ8oPICfXvVproq9eE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEw
AGoVChMInfGrjsuPyQIVhHNyChl9Vw0x#v=onepage&q=maritime%2
01aw%20reaction%20disaster&f=false (Gaskell fittingly refers to this
phenomenon as the "disaster reaction syndrome.").
52 Id. at 204.