The European Union and the future international legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction

International audienceThe present chapter aims at analysing the relationship between the European Union and the future International legally binding instrument (ILBI) related to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction - the high seas and the Area (deep seabed). The chapter will begin with a brief introduction detailing the manner in which the European Union has interacted with the international law of the sea. A particular focus will be placed on the difficulty that has arisen in distinguishing between the exclusive and shared competences of the EU in regard to the conservation of biological resources and the protection of the environment, at both a material and institutional level. Thereafter, the chapter will be two-pronged, elaborating upon the formal participation of the EU as regards the future instrument and the specificities of its substantive participation. Il also addresses the potential consequences for the Union of the adoption of such an agreement, in terms of its impact on EU maritime policy, on the exercise of its competences and on its participation in international institutions

« L’interprétation de l’article 121 de la Convention des Nations Unies sur le droit de la mer par la Cour internationale de Justice »

International audienc

Three Structural Pillars of the Future International Legally Binding Instrument on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

The Intergovernmental Conference on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction has started its work on the development of an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on the conservation and sustainable use of such biodiversity. The negotiations on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) will therefore further evolve within this new stage of the process. Based on a role-playing game conducted with students of the master’s in public international law at Utrecht University, this chapter looks at how the regulation for marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction could unfold by analysing three structural aspects of the development of the ILBI. First, as the ILBI is to be developed as an agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the first substantive section focuses on the relationship between the two treaties (Sect. 2). The next section looks at biodiversity itself, through the relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the ILBI, notably on how the instruments could complement one another in areas beyond national jurisdiction (Sect. 3). Finally, the last substantive section assesses the character of the ILBI, to see whether institutional arrangements should be rooted in a global, region/sectoral and/or hybrid approach (Sect. 4). These three issues form, in our view, the three pillars of the structural development and practical significance of the ILBI

The EU and the UN Legally-Binding Instrument on the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

The paper offers an in-depth reading of the role that the European Union (EU) may play during the current negotiations in the United Nations for the adoption of a new international legally binding agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Despite the complexity of the object and the interests of the negotiations in question, the study stresses the added value of the EU to speak with a single voice on behalf of its MSs, thank on the new status that the EU has in the United Nations General Assembly since 2011. In fact, such a status may assist a major sharing of position of the EU among other States, by covering also the legal gaps of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), concerning the protection of the marine biological diversity and, mainly, the definition and framework of Marine Genetic Resources. Besides, the paper stresses the idea that the EU may interconnect the new international agreement with other international instruments and International Organizations (IOs), in which the EU is an active player, guarantying in this way a concrete coordination and implementation of UNCLOS. Finally, the study will move to consider a pragmatic position expressed by the EU during the negotiations, together with its MSs, trying to understand whether and to what extent it can represent a possible third way to walk on