The dispute between Poland and Germany over the northern parts of
roadstead adjacent to Świnoujście and Szczecin sea ports casts a shadow
on good relations between those nations. The dispute concerns the
anchorage and the port approach route.
On 25 November 1994 Germany
have unilaterally declared those areas part of their exclusive economic
zone.
The Author advocates for solutions envisaged in international agreement on maritime border delimitation between former People Republic of Poland and former German Democratic Republic. The agreement was signed in Berlin on 22 May 1989.
The article provides legal analysis on co-dependence between nautical and aviation regulations in international law and practice. The study focuses on overflight rights with respect to civil and military aviation across distinct types of waters as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) where the Author differentiates the common legal standard from particular legal regulations giving rise to divergent practices of some countries. The article touches also a number of issues relating to maritime security (including the threat of piracy) and to environmental protection in the context of regulation and practice of airborne activities carried out by states’ authorities and services.
The Northwest Passage is a sea route – or, to be exact, it is a collected name for four routes – that connect Europe and East Asia. Despite its considerable length (it spans circa 5780 kilometers) and notorious nautical difficulties it provides a decent alternative to the route through the Panama Canal due to being roughly 4000 kilometers shorter. In the present day the route is seasonal and is predominately operated by Canadian entities. Recently however it has seen in-creased interest due to climate change.
While Canada claims the waters of the Northwest Passage to be their internal waters, some experts say this claim, notwithstanding its historical grounds, may be deemed an abuse of sovereignty. Canada exercises creeping jurisdiction there, with Article 234 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) as its sole justification. The United States, on the other hand, believes the Passage is in fact a strait connecting two areas of open sea and thus should remain part of international waters. On 11 January 1988 USA and Canada have signed an agreement on cooperation inthe Arctic.
The Author predicts the more disagreements over the Northwest Passage in the coming years as the core problem continues to be unresolved.
Komisja Europejska opublikowała w 2009 r. zieloną księgę pt. Reforma wspólnej polityki rybołówstwa. W dokumencie tym znajdują się odniesienia do obecnej i przyszłej legislacji unijnej oraz legislacji krajowych. Zachęca to do głębszego spojrzenia w europejską i w polską legislację w tej dziedzinie. Niniejszy artykuł ukazuje pewne aspekty tego procesu z odpowiednim ukierunkowaniem na wnioski de lege ferenda.
The article concerns legal aspects of localization of wind turbines at sea under Polish jurisdiction, i.e. on internal waters, territorial waters and within the exclusive economic zone. The Author provides analysis of applicable Polish law, including Maritime Areas Act 1991 and Spatial Planning Act 2003 in the context of domestic and international law on maritime environment protection.
The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM 2004) is a new frontier in the field of marine environment protection. The Convention’s aim is to reduce the risk of spreading of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens into alien marine environments by ships’ ballast water and sediments.
There is a list of non-indigenous species in the Baltic Sea which has been compiled in accordance with The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (HELCOM 1992). As ships carry thousands of species in their ballast water, the danger to the marine and coastal environ-ment is substantial.
Some of the HELCOM signatories have already ratified the BWM (Sweden, Norway) and thus may provide hands-on account of practicalities of the Con-vention. The HELCOM countries have agreed to ratify the BWM Convention by 2013 at the latest. The Author’s research may therefore be of value as Poland is currently considering ratification of the Convention.
The Third Maritime Safety Package, also known as Erica III, consists of 7 pieces of European Union legislation adopted by the Parliament and the Council in 2009. The EU member states are to implement them by bringing into force law, regulations and administrative provisions.
The level ofcommitment on the part of Commission of the EU to the issues surrounding safety packages is measured by the amount of actions brought before the Court of Justice for states’ failures to comply with them. Currently the Commission has delivered a reasoned opinion under the Article 258 of the Treaty concerning failure to implement Directive 2009/16/EC of 23 April 2009 on port State control by Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
The oceans are the second largest natural absorber of carbon dioxide emissions. One of the methods contemplated to enhance the processis fertilization of seawater with iron. The fertilization stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, the main biological agent responsible for the carbon dioxide sequestration processes by seawater. As phytoplankton absorbs the gas it transports it toward the seabed, thus making the ocean a natural carbon sink. Significance of this issue is reflected by the number of parties to the Kyoto Protocol (1997) to the United Nations Framework Convention for the Climate Change (UNFCCC 1992). The signatories include 194 states and the European Union to the UNFCCC and 192 states and the European Union to the Kyoto Protocol.
The Author provides legal analysis on ocean iron fertilization. The issue sparks considerable controversy from the standpoint of law, science and environmental protection. Since iron fertilization has been developed only recently, no thorough evaluation is possible. The Author advocates cautious approach and recommends limiting its use to scientific endeavors.
In recent years the Commission of the European Union has endeavored to create a regional European system of transport law, one that would not affect unimodal transport contracts and their respective conventions. The key issue therefore is relationship between such system and those conventions and, ultimately, the Rotterdam Rules. In its Resolution of 5 May 2010 on strategic goals and recommendations for the EU’s maritime transport policy until 2018 (2009/2095 (INI)), The European Parliament calls for speedy signing, ratification an implementation of the Rotterdam Rules by the EU member states.
The opponents of the Rotterdam Rules point to their conflict with unimodal transport conventions. However, the new system devised in that Convention allows for co-existence of unimodal systems while providing a sound replace-ment of outdated maritime regulations.