Cape Town Convention and international sanctions: the case of European Union sanctions against Russia

Abstract

The Cape Town Convention, while focused on a relatively specialised area of international finance, forms part of the broader system of international law and interacts in various ways with the other rules of that system, including international sanctions. This article explores the relationship between sanctions and the Cape Town Convention regime, taking as a case study the implications of the recent EU sanctions regime against Russia for the Registry established under the Aircraft Protocol and based within the EU. The increasing prominence of sanctions as a tool within the international legal system requires those who interact with the Convention regime, and their advisers, to keep international sanctions under review. In the case of EU sanctions against Russia, notwithstanding their very wide reach, the sanctions appear to have very limited effect on the activities of the Registry. Moreover, the privileged status of the Convention within the EU legal order arguably provides a significant level of protect...