Natural Resources

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The Legal Fight Over Deep-Sea Resources Enters a New and Uncertain Phase

August 22, 2023

Daniel Rosenberg

The past month was a flashpoint in the future of deep-sea exploitation – a future inexorably linked to the transition to a decarbonized economy. Deep-sea exploitation is governed by the International Seabed Authority (the ISA), an intergovernmental organization established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The ISA’s authority covers a large swath of the ocean floor known as “the Area,” which UNCLOS Article IX delineates as “the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.” The ISA previously adopted regulations for prospecting and exploration of the Area, but despite years of trying, has never finalized a Code for seabed exploitation. Consensus has remained elusive – and now time seems to have run out.

Preliminary Reflections on the ICJ Decision in the Dispute between Chile and Bolivia Over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala

December 8, 2022

Francesco Sindico

Laura Movilla Pateiro

Gabriel Eckstein

Chile and Bolivia, for the past six years, have engaged in a dispute before the International Court of Justice over the waters of the Silala. On 01 December 2022 the Court released its decision. This summary highlights some key facts and the outcome of the case, and raises a number of preliminary questions that the…

Ashraf Ghani’s ambitions to divert the Helmand River now serve his enemy, the Taliban: an International Law perspective

July 13, 2022

Mohsen Nagheeby

One tragedy follows another in Afghanistan. Occurring amid many other dramatic events, the diversion of the Helmand (Hirmand) River, which flows through Afghanistan and Iran, by the Taliban in January 2022 was almost lost in the news. This deliberate act can cause huge economic losses, degrade entire ecosystems, and threaten the lives of those dependent upon its waters.

Germany’s Trusteeship over Gazprom Germania: A Brewing Expropriation Claim?

June 6, 2022

Martin Jarrett

Background If it were not so serious, it would be funny: In March 2022, the part-time DJ and fledgling YouTuber Dmitry Tseplyaev (purportedly) became the ultimate controller of Gazprom’s gas-distribution network and gas-storage facilities in Germany. The German authorities did not see any humour in this situation. On 4 April 2022, they imposed…

Splashing down the International Space Station in the Pacific Ocean: Safe Disposal or Trashing the Ocean Commons?

February 23, 2022

Vito De Lucia

The International Space Station (ISS) is reaching its end of life and will need to be disposed of. NASA plans to do so by de-orbiting the ISS and sinking it into a particular area of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo (named after Captain Nemo, the famous character in the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues…

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The Right to Regulate for Public Morals Upheld (Somewhat): The WTO Panel Report in EC-Seal Products

January 27, 2014

Diane Desierto

There have been few interpretations of Article XX(a) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) - the specific exception that justifies what would ordinarily be a State's GATT-inconsistent measure, unless such measure is deemed "necessary to protect public morals". As with any of the ten enumerated exceptions under Article XX of GATT 1994, a State invoking GATT…

Beyond “Good Neighborliness” in the ICJ 1 October 2018 Judgment in Bolivia v. Chile: Do Human Rights and Sustainable Development Obligate Creating Negotiated Access for Landlocked Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean?

October 4, 2018

Diane Desierto

On 1 October 2018, the International Court of Justice issued its Judgment on the Merits in Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile), finding, by 12 votes to 3, that Chile "did not undertake a legal obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean" for Bolivia and rejecting all other submissions of Bolivia. While…

Philippines v China: first thoughts on the Award in the South China Seas Case

July 12, 2016

Douglas Guilfoyle

Any international lawyer looking at a news site in the last few hours will have seen that the final award has been handed down at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Philippines v China dispute brought under the UN Convention on the Law Sea Annex VII procedure. The arbitral tribunal’s decision is simply historic. While Philippines…

Trade Agreements, EU Law, and Occupied Territories – A Report on Polisario v Council

July 1, 2015

Geraldo Vidigal

Speaking of occupied territories, an interesting judgment should soon come from the General Court of the European Union (GC) in Action for Annulment Frente Polisario v Council (Case T-512/12), a case with fascinating international law aspects. I attended the hearing last week and think it warrants a report. Frente Polisario is a national liberation movement…