The legal provisions about the exploration of hydrocarbons in an exclusive economic zone and the...

Team members:

Dimitriadis SavvasGazis NikolaosKoukou EkateriniTeterina Xenia

The legal provisions about the exploration of hydrocarbons in an exclusive economic zone and the Aegean dispute among

Greece and Turkey.

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a sea-zone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), over which a coastal state has sovereign rights to explore and exploit, conserve and manage its natural resources. It stretches from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles (nm). When two (or more) state’s coastal baselines are less than 400 nm apart, overlap of EEZs occurs and it is up to the states to delineate the actual maritime boundary.

Territorial waters.

Territorial waters or territorial sea, as defined by the UNCLOS of 1982 (Art 3), is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nm from the baseline of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state.

The legal provisions about the exploration of hydrocarbons in an exclusive economic zone and the Aegean dispute among Greece and Turkey.

Exclusive economic zone.

Continental shelf.

The boundary of a continent is not its coastline, but the edge of the continental shelf that lies under the ocean. Even though it is underwater, continental shelf is part of the continent and contains the sea-bed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond the territorial sea. Coastal nations has control of all resources on or under it, living or not, but no control over any living organisms above the shelf that are beyond its exclusive economic zone.

There is possibility continental shelf existing without EEZ but not the opposite.


United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III-1982). The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. UNCLOS came into force in 1994. At October 2012, 163 countries and the European Union have joined in the Convention. Today UNCLOS is the main corpus of international legislation for the sea.


A brief summary of the articles of the UNCLOS concerning exploration and exploitation activities in EEZs.

In the exclusive economic zones and on the continental shelf, coastal states may regulate scientific research. In particular, they can authorize or prohibit the access to the area to another state if the project has direct consequences on the exploitation of natural resources, or involves drilling into the continental shelf or the construction and use of artificial structures.

Foreign states that want to conduct the research must describe accurately the work they want to carry out and the means and methods they intend to use, the geographical area in which the project will be conducted. They must also invite the coastal state to participate in the marine scientific research project and on board research vessels.

All the reports and conclusions of the research must be sent to the coastal state if the latter asks for them, and an access to resulting data must be granted to it. If the foreign state does not comply with those provisions, the coastal state can order it to suspend its activities.


A brief summary of the articles of the Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions for granting and using authorizations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons .

The member states have sovereign rights over hydrocarbon resources within their territories. It is up to each member state to determine the geographical areas in which the rights to prospect, explore for and produce hydrocarbons may be exercised, and to authorize entities to exercise those rights. The procedures for granting authorizations must be introduced in a transparent manner so that they will be open to all interested entities. All the information relating to the authorization is published in the Official Journal of the European Union at least 90 days before the deadline for the submission of applications.

The limits of the geographical areas covered by an authorization and the duration of that authorization must be determined in proportion to what is justified in terms of the best possible exercise of the activities from an economic and technical point of view. The aim is to prevent a single entity from having exclusive rights for an area whose prospection, exploration and production can be carried out more effectively by several entities.


Law no. 2289/95 Prospecting, Exploration and Exploitation of Hydrocarbons and other Provisions.

In 1995, the law 2289 of Greek legislation, which adopted EC Directive 94/22/EC and the provisions of UNCLOS, came into effect and was reformed by the law 4001/2011. In fact law 4001/2011 embeds articles of UNCLOS and of the Directive 94/22 into Greek legislation.


Aegean dispute.

The Aegean dispute is a set of interrelated controversial issues between Greece and Turkey over sovereignty and related rights in the area of the Aegean Sea. The dispute between Greece and Turkey is to what degree the Greek islands should be taken into account for determining the Greek and Turkish economic zones. Turkey argues that the notion of "continental shelf", by its very definition, implies that distances should be measured from the continental mainland, claiming that the sea-bed of the Aegean geographically forms a natural prolongation of the Anatolian land mass.

This set of conflicts has had a large effect on Greek-Turkish relations since the 1970s. It has twice led to crises coming close to the outbreak of military hostilities, in 1987 and in early 1996. Tensions over the 12 mile question ran highest between the two countries in the early 1990s, when the Law of the Sea was about to come into force. On 9 June 1995, the Turkish parliament officially declared that unilateral action by Greece would constitute a casus belli, i.e. reason to go to war. This declaration has been condemned by Greece as a violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which forbids "the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".


In the Aegean the territorial waters claimed by both sides are still at 6 miles. The possibility of an extension to 12 miles has fuelled Turkish concerns over a possible disproportionate increase in Greek-controlled space. Turkey has refused to become a member of the convention and does not consider itself bound by it. Turkey considers the convention as a treaty that can only be binding to the signing parties but not to others.


International Court of Justice

In its Judgment, the Court recalls that on 10 August 1976 Greece instituted proceedings against Turkey in respect of a dispute concerning the delimitation of the continental shelf appertaining to each of the two States in the Aegean Sea and their rights there over. In a letter of 26 August 1976 Turkey expressed the view that the Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the Application.

On 19 December 1978, in its judgment on the question of its jurisdiction in the case concerning the Aegean Sea Continental Shelf (Greece - Turkey), the Court found that it is without jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed by the Government of Greece.


Cyprus.

There is possibility continental shelf existing without EEZ but not the opposite.

At February 2003 Cyprus signed a convention which declared the principle of EEZ with Egypt. In these conventions there was no mention about the continental shelf , since the juries prudence of the definition of the continental shelf Libya-Malta (1985) stated that continental shelf and EEZ are totally different and separate the rights in the seabed and the subsoil . This was the first convention of EEZ in Eastern Mediterranean. After four years Cyprus signed the same convention with Lebanon (December 2010).

In the agreement between Cyprus and Egypt both countries recognize that the most effective way for the exploitation of their natural resources is through unified operation agreements adjoining areas.


Conclusion.It is clear that the established legislation that is in force today for issues regarding the

determination of EEZs, thus exploration and exploitation of natural resources in it, are not always sufficient when states EEZs happens to overlap. In these cases disputes may occur among the costal nations and the proper Courts are unable to resolve the conflicts. Such an example is the Aegean dispute among Greece and Turkey where the International Court of Justice found that it is without jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed by the Government of Greece. Greece on its position should follow the geopolitical formula that Cyprus applied in order to delaminate its EEZ.

Possibly problems will arise if a state abuses the official rights of the coastal state. The mainly reasons for non-definition of EEZ in the Mediterranean sea are firstly because it would give as a result the disappearance of ‘open sea’, additionally disputes would come over from many cases of delineating. Many countries were in accordance in order not to adopt the implementation of EEZ. Egypt and Morocco are the exceptions in this general declaration of principles.

It is obvious that the creation of an EEZ by Cyprus has forced the government in Athens to reconsider its position on the concept of the EEZ, and it has already started discussions with its other neighbours, Albania, Egypt, Italy, and Libya. Nevertheless, these discussions have not produced any positive results for Greece so far.


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