Klumbytė, Skirmantė

The aim of the article is to give an international legal assessment to Kerch Strait incident of 25 November 2018. The article deals with such issues in detail: Description of events, Scope of the discussion, Rights of navigation in the Kerch Strait (Rights under UNCLOS and Rights under the 2003 Cooperation Agreement), Denunciation / Termination of the Agreement between Ukraine and Russian Federation on cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov and the Strait of Kerch (2003), Other violations of UNCLOS and Conclusions.

Prieš kelias dienas buvo paskelbta, kad Stokholme Lietuvos Respublikos prezidentė Dalia Grybauskaitė ir Švedijos ministras pirmininkas Fredrikas Reinfeldtas pasirašė Lietuvos ir Švedijos jūros sienos sutartį, kuria galutinai įteisintos visos valstybinės sienos.

In 1970s Baltic States apprehended that the Baltic Sea, a distinct marine region with grave environmental problems, called for an effective protective system. The initiatives of the Baltic States resulted in Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area which was signed on 22 March 1974. Material provisions of this convention, which came into force on 3 May 1980, and its shortcomings are analysed in Part 2 of this paper. In the light of political changes and developments in international environmental as well as maritime law, a new convention was signed in 1992 by all the states bordering the Baltic Sea as well as the European Community and it entered into force on 17 January 2000. The most important novelties of this convention as compared with the one signed in 1972 are described in Part 4 of this paper. Despite major improvements introduced by the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992, it failed to rectify some of the shortcomings inherited from its predecessor and reviewed in Part 5 of this paper. At the end of this paper certain conclusions as regards the sufficiency of the existing framework in order to achieve the objectives of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992, are drawn.

In the last years domestic as well as international legislation has revealed a trend towards providing an increased protection to marine environment and establishment of various marine protected areas to serve this aim. However, such development instigates a discussion whether a coastal state has unlimited jurisdiction under international law to designate such areas in its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. Compatibility of marine protected areas with the regime of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is analysed in part 2 of this paper. Part 3 of this paper describes various types of marine protected areas that have been designated within the waters of the Baltic Sea: Special Area under MARPOL 73/78 Convention, Particularly Sensitive Sea Area under respective regulations of the International Maritime Organization, Baltic Sea Protected Areas under Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment in the Baltic Sea Area, Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation under European Union directives as well as other areas established under Lithuanian national legislation. Legal regime associated with the status of each of the aforementioned areas and its effectiveness is also being reviewed. At the end of this paper certain conclusions as regards the system of marine protected areas in the waters of the Baltic Sea and the scope of protective measures applicable in such areas are drawn.