Although legal matters surrounding maritime administration system have been subject of extensive studies for nearly half a century, recent 90th anniversary of its foundation sparked some renewed interest in the matter. In 2010 agroup of authors, all being maritime administration practitioners, produced acollection of scientific studies on the subject. The present article adds to the discussion and formulates conclusions de lege lataand de lege ferenda.
The article discusses data processing in e-Maritime systems. Operations within those systems are automatic, yet the actual system machinery is poorly understood by lawyers. The authors call for greater involvement of scholars and practicing lawyers in e-Maritime development.
The article analyses e-Maritime systems as implemented by Singapore Port and the european e-Maritime initiative. Furthermore, the authors examine electronic documents in Polish administrative and civil law — in particular, electronic bill of lading, NCTS communication, electronic transport records, electronic billing and the Internet of Things.
Maritime economy is one of the fields of economy of coastal states. The article tries to identify the legal framework of environmental maritime economy, as the environmental conditions influence and shape the maritime economy in acontemporary world. Environmental maritime economy is a consequence of coexistenceof three fields of law. Economic law, environmental law and maritime law. Those fields of law, which has been extracted from the body of law in an artificial way by using the objective criteria but still they are deeply interre-lated and the borders between them are blurred. Sustainable development principle is one of the main indicators of how the environmental maritime economy should function. Legal framework, international law, EU law and Polish internal law try to precise the exact meaning of sustainable development in the sphere of economic use of maritime resources. This is specially complicated as the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea is highly vulnerable and lots of environmental pressure is being putted on it. Successful implementation of environmental maritime economy should result in achieving prosperous economic activity that will be taking place in the environment of a good quality.
The author reviews port services — which in current Polish maritime law system include shipping agency, shipbroking, pilotage and towage.
The first part of the article examines the legal status of ports and of services themselves as categorized by the Maritime Code. The author provides their outlines, noting terseness and shortcomings of the regulation.
The second part presents draft amendments to the Code proposed by Maritime Law Codification Committee. Among the changes proposed the author dis-cusses dockage.
The final part concerns European Union Law, as the primary impulse behind the study is draft Regulation of European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework on market access to port services and financial transparency of ports of 23 May 2013. The emergence of the draft stirred the EU member states, and, in particular, the entities professionally associated with port industry. The author sets out the basics of the proposal and criticizes them as being contrary to free market principles and subjects port services to admin-istrative regulation.
The article looks into a recently developed concept of international interest which is intended as a replacement for traditional securities such as ship mortgages and maritime liens. The regulation is being introduced by Cape Town Convention on International Interest in Mobile Equipment together with one of the protocols. The Cape Town Treaty has been welcomed by 60 signatures, including the European Union and the United States, and it has already proven itself in the aircraft industry.
The author discusses the Cape Town Treaty’s chances for wider adoption against the backdrop of the 1926 Brussels Convention on Maritime Liens and Mortgages, the 1967 Brussels International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules relating to Maritime Liens and Mortgages and the 1993 Geneva International Convention on Maritime Liens and Mortgages.
The article analyses maritime cabotage, which is part of the European Union Law since 1992 (Council Regulation [EEC] No 3577/92 of 7 December 1992 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States) and discusses the European Court of Justice case law on the subject.
Poland is currently the only large member state with access to sea (over 500 km of coastline with numerous small ports and harbours) that does not have legal regulation on maritime cabotage in force. The author argues for introducing a reservation regarding ships flying non-EU flag.
The article goes into the seldom discussed topic of offshore installations, such as oil platforms. The author categorizes these structures and discusses legal issues surrounding them, namely regarding mobile platforms as vessels, the international status of artificial islands, and the questions of jurisdiction. The article also touches on legality of construction of such installations, safety zones, hot pursuit and removal of decommissioned structures.
The author points that the key deficiency in maritime law is the absence of international convention on liability for pollution damage from oil rigs.
The author analyses legal issues of naval presence in the world ocean in the context of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) in terms of striking balance between doctrines of freedom of the sea and restricted access.
Military operations at sea remain to be prominent. UNCLOS does provide for naval presence in the world ocean as it isessential not only for defense and protection of interests of coastal nations, but also to perform their treaty obligations. The burden to enforce law and order at sea rests on large naval fleets and it remains to be so in foreseeable future.
The subject matter of this article has never been taken on by Polish academic writers.
The activities within The Area adapt to the so-dolled parallel system, which has been devised by the United States during drafting the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 New York Agreement. The parallel system is further reinforced by concepts of registered marine parcels and work plan.
The article analyses the approval process of a work plan for offshore polymetallic nodules mining submitted by companies incorporated in the Kingdom of Tonga and in the Municipality of Laur. The author notes, on this occasion, an unsettling propensity for taking unfair advantage of developing countries by large mining corporations.
The method of delimitation of maritime boundaries changed with time. Between 1969 and 1982 the International Court of Justice decided these matters upon 1958 Geneva conventions and international custom. The years 1982 to 1994 saw entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the year 2009 — the landmark Black Sea ruling (Romania v Ukraine, judgment of 3 February 2009).
While the method is straightforward, the delimitation itself is a fairly complicated process. The article deals with that second phase. The author explains the concept of special circumstances — a rather indistinct notion composed of geographical (mostly) and non-geographical factors.
The article analyses in this context some recent delimitation cases regarding the Black Sea and the Carribbean (Nicaragua v Colombia), and the Bay of Bengal case, where the judgment was delivered by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Bangladesh v Myanmar, judgment of 14 March 2012).
The article outlines development of freedom of fishing in the high seas against the backdrop of the negotiations leading to Geneva conventions on law of the sea, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1995 United Nations agreement concerning the conservation and management of straddling stocks and highly migratory fish stocks. The author quotes opinions of scholars within the subject of the law of the sea as well as of UNCLOS co-originators, thelatter formulated on 30th anniversary of the Convention.
The author focuses on overfishing and international, regional and subregional co-operation towards sustainable fishery, prevention of illegal and uncontrolled fishing and acts of fishing piracy. Finally, the article outlines European Union law and policies on fishing, including broader issues regarding co-operation between the EU and international entities.
The article serves as a follow-up to the theses of EU Fishing Fleet Adjustment to Marine Bioresources — Regulations and Finance(Prawo Morskie XXIX).
The law regarding the subject is contentious and sparks off varying interpretation in administrative practice and case-law, including that of the Supreme Administrative Court. The article criticizes this portion of law and formulates conclusions de lege ferenda.
The article takes on a subject likely to become a heart of a spirited national debate. The localization of the nuclear power plant on the Baltic Sea coast necessitates taking into account the following documents: the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the 1992 Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea, the 1992 Espoo Con-vention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, the 1998 Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.
The critical body whose opinion should be taken into account with respect to localization and construction of the nuclear power plant is the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM).
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