Publication Date:
2021
abstract:
With Law No. 91/2021 Italy authorized the establishment of an exclusive
economic zone, an epoch-making change in Italian foreign policy. For decades,
the governments of the Peninsula, conditioned by the interests of national fishermen and by the advice of the Navy, have pushed for a limitation of the extension
of jurisdiction in the Mediterranean. There is no doubt that in semi-enclosed
seas the EEZ regime is more difficult to apply, but by now almost all the coastal
States of this sea have declared an EEZ or are preparing to do so. The regime
will coincide with the provisions of UNCLOS on the subject. The most delicate
problem is undoubtedly that of delimitation. In the past, Italy has negotiated
disadvantageous delimitation lines of the continental shelf, which are now being
proposed, by the States with which such agreements have been concluded, as “all
purposes” delimitation lines. The problem arises for the moment essentially with
Tunisia, since in the other cases the agreements are with EU countries, and with
Algeria, with which there are no agreements in force but which has declared an
EEZ that overlaps with areas potentially subject to Italian (and other countries’)
jurisdiction.
economic zone, an epoch-making change in Italian foreign policy. For decades,
the governments of the Peninsula, conditioned by the interests of national fishermen and by the advice of the Navy, have pushed for a limitation of the extension
of jurisdiction in the Mediterranean. There is no doubt that in semi-enclosed
seas the EEZ regime is more difficult to apply, but by now almost all the coastal
States of this sea have declared an EEZ or are preparing to do so. The regime
will coincide with the provisions of UNCLOS on the subject. The most delicate
problem is undoubtedly that of delimitation. In the past, Italy has negotiated
disadvantageous delimitation lines of the continental shelf, which are now being
proposed, by the States with which such agreements have been concluded, as “all
purposes” delimitation lines. The problem arises for the moment essentially with
Tunisia, since in the other cases the agreements are with EU countries, and with
Algeria, with which there are no agreements in force but which has declared an
EEZ that overlaps with areas potentially subject to Italian (and other countries’)
jurisdiction.
Iris type:
1.1 Articolo in rivista
Keywords:
EEZ regime; freedom of navigation; delimitation of maritime spaces; regime pending delimitation; enclosed and semi-enclosed seas
List of contributors:
Cataldi, Giuseppe
Published in: