Exclusive Economic Zone

Abstract

The legal nature and the economic, political, and social implications of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) have been widely explored and examined by the doctrine over the years (O’Connell 1982, cited under Handbooks and Articles on the Law of the Sea; and Attard 1987, Orrego Vicuña 1989, Franckx and Gautier 2003, Nelson 2008, Posner and Sykes 2010, and Andreone 2015, all cited under Specific Literature on the EEZ). Yet, twenty-five years after the entry into force of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter, LOSC), the EEZ is still a matter of debate among authors and a cause of international disputes. These latter result from the many interpretation conflicts that incessantly arise when the states act with the EEZ or implement the related convention’s provisions (Roach and Smith 2012, cited under Handbooks and Articles on the Law of the Sea). In particular, the main issues at stake are the compliance of LOSC provisions on the EEZ with customary international law and the possible evolution of this latter (Treves 1990, cited under Handbooks and Articles on the Law of the Sea), the crucial issue of coastal states’ creeping jurisdiction over new uses of the sea (Oxman 2006, cited under Specific Literature on the EEZ), and finally, the risk of excessive restriction to the freedom of navigation, as the original and never-ending general principle of the law of the sea (Rigaldies 1998, cited under Specific Literature on the EEZ). The EEZ codification in the LOSC was a revolutionary compromise of the interests of coastal and flag states, as well as the general interests of the international community as a whole. It was widely welcomed for having unified the regime of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, becoming a multifunctional zone (Kwiatkowska 1989, cited under Specific Literature on the EEZ, and Lucchini and Voelckel 1996, cited under Handbooks and Articles on the Law of the Sea). Against this background, the EEZ remains a concept in a permanent state of flux and its legal regime will be inevitably affected by the future development of international practice in the law of the sea (Beckman and Davenport 2013, cited under Specific Literature on the EEZ).