The Regime for the Use of Non-living Resources in the Caspian Sea

Abstract

The lack of clarity with regard to the scope of the individual rights of riparian states on non-living resources of the Caspian Sea grew in importance after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which triggered unilateral attempts at regulation. The coastal states’ conflicting territorial claims, which results in an overlapping of zones, speaks for the delimitation of the Caspian Sea. It shall however be considered that the requested territorial rights might injure the rights—also on the use of resources—assented to by states not involved in the delimitation process of the maritime zones in question. This becomes particularly acute in the case of maritime areas, where the distance between the opposite shores is less than 400 nm, as is the case for the Caspian Sea. The clashing legal claims of several states over the same maritime areas was regulated—even if only partially—in the northern part of the Caspian Sea through the set of Agreements between Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia.The littoral states’ legal positions regarding the legal status of the Caspian Sea envisaged in the draft of the future Caspian Status Convention put an evidence of the existence of immense differences in their views with respect to the scope of each state’s rights on the use of non-living resources of the Caspian Sea.