Port State Jurisdiction Over Vessel Information: Territoriality, Extraterritoriality and the Future of Shipping Regulation
(2016) 31 International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 470
Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper No. 4/2018
28 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2017 Last revised: 8 Feb 2018
Date Written: June 4, 2016
Abstract
This article discusses the use of port state jurisdiction to impose information requirements on visiting foreign vessels. It analyses the issues surrounding the regulation of information on a territorial basis, with particular reference to the traditional maritime zone-based approach taken in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea among other maritime conventions. It argues that port states have extensive options for requesting information from vessels in port, even if that information relates to matters arising beyond the state’s maritime zones (as in the case of the European Union’s 2015 regime for monitoring vessel C02 emissions), without making any excessive claim to extraterritorial jurisdiction. After discussing the manner in which port states may choose to deploy these options in practice, the article addresses some broader trends connected with the increasing automation of shipping and the ever-wider availability of shipping-related information, and the impact these developments may have on international law and shipping regulation in the long term.
Keywords: port states, shipping, information, territoriality, extraterritorial, jurisdiction
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation