European Energy and Environmental Law Review
Volume 29, Issue 2 (2020) pp. 26 – 38

Abstract

The article evaluates the modern doctrine of territorial sea administration. The article views the administration of coastal state as an application and enforcement of UNCLOS based regimes of maritime zones. The article examines the legal regulation of the territorial sea. It also studies the process of overlapping and interaction between different administrative and legal regulations applicable to a given maritime zone. The features of such regulation are pointed out based upon the combination and mutual influence of international, EU and national law. Ukraine’s experience in administering the territorial sea after the illegal annexation of Crimea is studied. The pros and cons of EU concept of Maritime spatial planning with respect to the demands of protection and security are revealed in the context of hybrid conflicts.    

Extract

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The Ukrainian PublicAdministration of TerritorialSeas: A European ExampleBorys Kormych*, Tetiana Averochkina** &Vitalii Gaverskyi***The article evaluates the modern doctrine of territorialsea administration. The article views the administra-tion of coastal state as an application and enforcementof UNCLOS based regimes of maritime zones. Thearticle examines the legal regulation of the territorialsea. It also studies the process of overlapping andinteraction between different administrative and legalregulations applicable to a given maritime zone. Thefeatures of such regulation are pointed out based uponthe combination and mutual influence of interna-tional, EU and national law. Ukraine’s experience inadministering the territorial sea after the illegalannexation of Crimea is studied. The pros and consof EU concept of Maritime spatial planning withrespect to the demands of protection and security arerevealed in the context of hybrid conflicts.Keywords:public administration, territorial sea, maritimezone, coastal state jurisdiction, marine environment,UkraineI IntroductionIn 1982, United Nations Convention on the Law of theSea (UNCLOS)1was adopted, which has become thebasis for modern approaches to public administration ofmaritime zones, and, in turn, has logically continued todevelop. H. Grotius’s‘The Free Sea Natural Law’2hasalso impacted its development. However, all subsequentlegal development is associated with the expansion ofnational jurisdictions by coastal states. Such jurisdictionshave been steadily expanded both in volume and territoryof regulation.Such an expansion of jurisdictions entails certain qua-litative changes, which, in particular, relate to the trans-formation of the jurisdictional powers of coastal statesand their relevant authorities. There was a‘gunshot’3rule during war, which suggested a minimum three-milezone of neutrality. Nowadays, it is believed that‘the coastcan generate maritime zones, where the states can declaresovereignty, sovereign rights and define theirjurisdictions’.4These changes are considered in the con-text of the complication and expansion of the use ofmaritime zones. There was a classical two-element under-standing of maritime zone: firstly, as the means of com-munication and secondly as a huge reservoir of resources,both living and non-living.5Then, UNCLOS defined it asa territory, in which six types of activities can be carriedout–navigation, innocent passage, submarine cables andpipelines, marine scientific research, the creation of arti-ficial islands and structures and fishing.6The expansionof human maritime activities, in this case, acts as a cata-lyst for the complication of the rules, techniques andmethods of public administration of maritime zones. Themain reason for the UNCLOS’division of the oceans intozones is to ensure the convenience and simplicity ofadministration. If a state is located in a certain maritimezone, it has corresponding rights and obligations for theoperation in this zone.7To date, the legal regime of the marine environment isdetermined by a combination of international and nationallaws, and a significant place is occupied by coastal states’law.8There is a problem that pursues international lawand politics as a whole. Due to insistence on state sover-eignty, the absence of enforcement measures and specialinterests, it is difficult to ensure compliance with evenlegally binding agreements.9Accordingly, the practical* Doctor of Law, Professor, Head of the Department of Maritimeand Customs Law, National University‘Odessa Law Academy’,Odessa, Ukraine. Email: boryskormych@yahoo.com.**PhD in Law, Head of the laboratory of the Department ofMaritime and Customs Law, National University‘Odessa LawAcademy’, Odessa, Ukraine.Email: tetyanaaverochkina@yahoo.com.***Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, Department of Mari-time and Customs Law, National University‘Odessa Law Acad-emy’, Odessa, Ukraine. Email: kmtp@meta.ua.1United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(1982),http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf (accessed 12 Dec. 2019).2H. Grotius,The Free Sea Natural Law and EnlightenmentClassics176 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).3B. L. Florsheim,Territorial Seas–3000-Year-Old Question,36 J. Air L. & Com. 73–104 (1970).4A. Chircopet al.,The Maritime Zones of East African States inthe Law of the Sea: Benefits Gained, Opportunities Missed,16(2)Afr. J. Int’l&Comp.L.121–150 (2008).5M. N. Shaw,International Law(6th ed., New York: Cam-bridge University Press 2008).6Ch. Kastrisios & L. Tsoulosa,Maritime Zones Delimitation–Problems and Solutions, Proceedings of the International Carto-graphic Association Conference (Washington 2017).7I. Babatunde,Delimited Maritime Zones and The Responsi-bility of States in Marine Environmental Protection Under The1982 Convention on The Law of The Sea, 2(7) Int’l J. Educ. &Res. 413–432 (2014).8R. Sridhar et al.,A Political, Economic, Social, Technological,Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) Approach for Assessmentof Coastal Zone Management Practice in India, 21(3) Int’l Rev.Pub. Administration 216–232 (2016).9J. Larik & L. Morgan,Oceans Governance and InternationalLaw of the Sea: Closing the Gaps, The Hague Institute for GlobalJustice (2016), https://www.thehagueinstituteforglobaljustice.org/26European Energy and Environmental Law Review May 2020The Ukrainian Public Administration

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