; (3) by inserting after section 6 the following: 6A. Liability of nongovernmental operators (a) Liability Whenever, on the basis of information available to it, a Government of a State Party to Annex VI, other than the United States— (1) finds that a nongovernmental operator has failed to take prompt and effective response action to an environmental emergency arising from that operator’s activities, as required by section 4D, and (2) said Government takes a response action to that environmental emergency, such Government may bring a civil action against that operator to recover the costs of such response action in an appropriate district court in accordance with section 12. Any such operator found to have violated the requirements of section 4D shall be liable to pay to that Government the costs of the response action taken by such Government. (b) Failure To comply Failure of a Government to comply with the provisions of Article 5, paragraphs 3, 4, or 5 of Annex VI shall not be a defense to liability under this section. (c) Strict liability Liability pursuant to subsections (a), (e), (k), and (l) shall be strict. (d) Joint liability When an environmental emergency arises from the activities of two or more nongovernmental operators, they shall be jointly and severally liable under subsection (a), (k), or (l), except that an operator which establishes that only part of the environmental emergency resulted from its activities shall be liable in respect of that part only. (e) Claims Any nongovernmental operator may seek contribution from any other nongovernmental operator that is liable or potentially liable under section 2406 of this title. Such claims shall be brought in accordance with this section and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and shall be governed by Federal law. In resolving contribution claims, the court may allocate response costs among liable parties using such equitable factors as the court determines are appropriate. Nothing in this subsection shall diminish the right of any person to bring an