The EU as an international sea-policy actor

Abstract

This chapter looks at the EU as an international actor in the marine and maritime policy areas. As shown in Chapter 4, the European Economic Community worked actively during UNCLOS III to get a clause in the convention which was adopted that allowed it to become party to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In some international organizations the European Commission represents the European Union (EU). This is the case in numerous fisheries organisations because the EU has an exclusive competence, concerning “the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy” (Art. 3(d) TFEU). In some organisations the EU is represented through the member states only, which includes the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and in some organizations the EU is represented along with the member states, which includes the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). For the EU to be represented the constitution of the organization must allow for a Regional Economic Integration Organization (REIO) to become a party, which for instance is not the case in the IMO, even if the EU has important shared competences in the maritime transport and maritime safety areas. But the EU has succeeded playing an important role in the IMO through the member states without formally being a party to the founding agreement.