Maritime Policy Of The European Union And Law Of The Sea

In June 2006 the European Commission published its so-called 'Green Paper' under the title: 'Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union. A European vision for the oceans and seas.' In February 2006, looking ahead to this emerging vision, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Ehlers and Prof. Dr. Rainer Lagoni organised a seminar on 'Law of the Sea and Maritime Policy of the EC'. Participants were graduate scholars of the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs (IMPRS) at the University of Hamburg and graduate students. Their papers published here cover various legal and policy issues ranging from the maritime policy of the European Union relating to the 'Erika III Package', EMSA, security for ships and port facilities, the failed Port Package II, different aspects of fisheries management and law to sanctioning violations of MARPOL through criminal law.

This book offers a comprehensive international law analysis of the European Union’s maritime safety legislation.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 entered into force on 16 November 1994. Since this date a single binding instrument has regulated the rights and duties of States at sea and regarding the sea. New concepts, such as the exclusive economic zone, archipelagic waters, transit passage through straits, and the International Seabed Area, are now fully recognized. The fifteen member States of the European Union are a significant sample for analyzing the practice of States, or at least that of the Western industrialized States, as regards the law of the sea. They include major and small maritime powers, coastal and land-locked States, States with coasts on the Atlantic Ocean and States with coasts on semi-enclosed seas such as the Baltic and the Mediterranean, States with and without involvement in deep seabed mining and States with different interests as regards fisheries. The fact that they all belong to the European Union is a very important common feature, which amply justifies the choice made to study them together. The book's aim is to give, through essays prepared by well-known specialists, a detailed survey of the attitudes and practice concerning the law of the sea of the member States of the European Union and of the European Community as such. The common positions of the member States and the results of their coordinated action also emerge from these essays. The fact that the member States and the European Community are now actively engaged in the process of becoming parties to the Law of the Sea Convention is certainly a major contribution to the consolidation of the Convention as a universal instrument, or at least as an instrument widely ratified by States of all continents and economic and political interests.

Ocean governance has its legal basis in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in numerous international maritime conventions. These rules help to balance conflicting interests in the uses of the oceans and seas and the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Their efficiency depends, however, on their enforcement. In 2007 Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Ehlers and Prof. Dr. Rainer Lagoni organized a seminar on 'Enforcement of International and EU Law in Maritime Affairs'. Participants were graduate scholars of the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs (IMPRS) at the University of Hamburg and graduate students. Their papers cover various aspects of enforcement relating to the new Wreck Removal Convention and to rules of the European Union, such as port State control, enforcement measures in fisheries, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), protection of maritime boundaries and inquiries into maritime casualties. The volume also includes an analysis of the maritime policy of the EU as a new integrated approach to maritime activities.

The Development of the EU as a Sea-Policy Actor explores the marine and maritime policies of the European Union (EU), including fisheries, maritime transport, marine environment and maritime safety policies. These policies have made the EU an important sea-policy actor internally and externally.

Jurisdiction over Ships: Post-UNCLOS Developments in the Law of the Sea analyses international law developments in shipping since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982. The Convention’s rules on the rights and obligations of flag states, coastal states and port states, have by and large been accepted and adhered to by states, but the legal regime for the oceans is neither complete nor static, nor was it intended to be so. New issues have surfaced while old issues have changed their character. Developments in law and practice have already resulted in some divergences between the jurisdictional scheme outlined in UNCLOS and how states in reality exercise their jurisdiction over ships. In this book, 18 leading academics in the field study a number of such developments in more detail, providing a practical guide to the state of the law at present while at the same time offering insights into how international law develops in this field.

The Law of the Sea Convention has now reached 25 years of presence in the international scene as a constitution for the oceans. It was the product of a long and arduous negotiation with a final product of delicate balance. The purpose of this book is to examine whether the basic premises and essential compromises of the Convention still hold true or whether the Convention, as a living instrument, has evolved into accommodating new needs and challenges to its regulatory scheme. The vehicle chosen is the jurisdictional interplay between the States, as flag States, coastal States and port States, and the world community at large in matters relating to navigation, fisheries, access to the biological resources of the deep seabed or even maritime security. The result confirms the solid foundations of the Convention and its ability to evolve and expand without upsetting its essential balance. A book useful to all those interested in the law of the sea and the structure of international law.

In the years since 1994, when the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) entered into force, the ocean law regime has been profoundly affected by an interplay of new forces in global ocean affairs. Numbered among them are innovations in technology and science, the emergence of intensified piracy and other challenges to maritime security, national, and regional programs. In Ocean Law and Policy: Twenty Years of Development under the UNCLOS Regime, experts from fourteen countries present nineteen papers that provide insightful analyses of these wide-ranging issues that form the emerging new context of UNCLOS as a keystone to a working regime system. Accessible as well as authoritative, this volume offers to general readers as well as academics, policy officials, and legal experts a set of important analyses and provocative insights, forming a major contribution to the literature of ocean studies.

This article examines the European Union's (EU's) recently adopted Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) in three contexts. The first is that within which all national integrated ocean policies need to function; namely, international ocean governance and the law of the sea. The second is a comparison of the integrated ocean policies of the EU and large federal states; that is, political entities that most closely resemble the EU in functional terms. This article will focus on a comparison with Canada. Third, the article undertakes a cursory assessment of the prospects of the IMP.

New developments in the uses of the sea have given rise to new questions in the law of the sea since the beginning of the second millennium, and there are international endeavors to revise certain issues of maritime law. The Seminar, papers of which are collected in this volume, dealt with some examples of these developments. Participants were doctoral candidates of the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs and students of the University of Hamburg. Addressed are the internationalization of marine natural resources, the audit system of flag State's obligations, rights of land-locked and geographically disadvantaged States in the EEZ, the reform of the European fisheries policy and finally the Rotterdam Rules which are deemed to alter the carrier's obligations in the law of maritime transport. A report of the Seminar's excursion to several maritime institutions in New York City is also included.