The article presents reviews of the European Union regulation on reporting formalities for ships entering the EU ports. It also analyses IMO regulation concerning that matter. Finally, the author exposes the differences between both legal systems and weaknesses of the solutions adopted. In the second part of the article the author discusses the Polish way of the reporting formalities system’s implementation. On the basis of a legal analysis as well as practice of the maritime authorities in Poland, the author finds that the Polish regulations seem to be exemplary.

The meaning and scope of the concept of security in extenso, as well as its special type, i.e. maritime safety and security, has been the subject of many considerations and discussions for decades, and perhaps for centuries. Security is most often understood as one of the basic functions of the State implying counteracting all threats. In axiological terms, as a risk-free state, maritime safety is a value, and in functional terms, as a desirable state, it is expressed in the protective function of law. The law must be structured in such a way as to constantly realize this function. Achieving maritime safety can therefore be seen as the capacity of law and institutions, for example, to protect a ship against loss, protect health and life of people employed on a ship, and protect the environment from pollution.

The bill of lading is one of the most important transport documents in maritime trade. Due to certain contract-like features it exhibits, it is sometimes incorrectly identified as a contract for the carriage of cargo by sea. The purpose of this article is to present the features of the bill of lading that exclude the possibility of equating this document with a contract for the carriage of goods by sea. A bill of lading is not a contract, but a unilateral declaration of the carrier’s will, in which the carrier confirms acceptance of the cargo on the ship and undertakes to deliver it to the legitimate recipient at the port of destination. A bill of lading is a transport document for cargo and a commodity security. For this reason, it cannot be said that a bill of lading is merely an evidence of the conclusion of a contract for the carriage of goods by sea.

The concept of ecosystem services becomes more and more popular in regulation of the environmental protection. One of the premises of that concept is treatment of a human and human activity as an integral part of an ecosystem. Interrelations between human activity and ecosystem can be described through the concept of ecosystem services. A certain degree of commodification of natural environment which is immanently connected with the concept of ecosystem services can become useful as a tool of assessing the impact of human activities on ecosystem as well as regulating that impact. Marine protection law is a good example of attempts to introduce the interrelated concepts of ecosystem approach and ecosystem services into functioning of the regulatory schemes.