This was an application by the parties with an interest in the Wladyslaw Jagiello to replace the security (P&I Club guarantee) provided for the limitation amount of the wreck fund - plus statutory interest thereon up to the date of the call for distribution pursuant to Article 320v Dutch Code of Civil Procedure (DCCP) - by a payment of the sum of the fund into a deposit account.

Held:

In accordance with the LLMC 1976, the statutory regulation of limitation of liability is aimed at making the fund (ie the amount of the limited liability plus statutory interest up to the day of the constitution of the fund) available for creditors. Under art 320c DCCP and art 11.2 of the Convention, the ways in which the fund may be constituted, ie deposit or guarantee, are considered equal to each other. After constitution of the fund in the manner of his choice, the debtor has fulfilled the conditions to limit liability.

In practice, the two ways of constituting the fund may lead to different obligations of the debtor where the rate of statutory interest over the period of time after the constitution of the fund to be covered by the security differs from the market rate of interest rate to be achieved on a deposited sum. No legal rule prevents the debtor who first provided security from still making a deposit: the fund is then also available to the creditors, and the statutory interest in that case runs up to the time of the deposit.