Carrier Liability for Damages Incurred by Ship 
Passengers: The European Union as a Trailblazer 
Towards a Global Liability Regime? 1 
Stefan Kirchner, 2 Grit Tungler, 3 & Jan Martin Hoffmann 4 
I. Introduction 194 
II. Liability for Damages Incurred by Passengers 
Under U.S. Law and Under the PLR 199 
III. The Passenger Liability Regulation 202 
A. Background 202 
B. Development 204 
C. The PLR, its Annexes, and the PAL 2002 206 
D. Consequences of the Entry into Force of the 
PAL 2002 210 
IV. Outlook 212 
1 This text only reflects the private opinion of the authors and is not to be 
attributed to any institutions or authorities with which the authors are 
employed or related. In particular, not to the Federal Republic of 
Germany or any subdivisions, institutions or agencies thereof. 
2 Rechtsanwalt, Dr., MJI, University Lecturer for Fundamental and 
Human Rights, University of Lapland, Faculty of Law, Rovaniemi, 
Finland. 
3 Assessoren jur., LL.M., Head of Shipping Law Section, International 
Liability Conventions, General Departmental Business, Federal Maritime 
and Hydrographic Agency, Hamburg, Germany. 
4 Dr. jur., MLE, Professor, Federal University of Applied Administrative 
Sciences, Departmental Branch of Financial Administration, Muenster, 
Germany.