CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ LAW OF THE SEA: IS IT RELEVANT FOR THE CZECH REPUBLIC? Pursuant to Articles 363 and 364 of the Versailles Peace Treaty (also signed in Hamburg on 2 November 1929). 33 Part E of this Protocol also established, through the reference to Article 6(2) of the Decision, the jurisdiction of the PCIJ. According to Article 37 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (hereinafter, the “ICJ”), which makes the ICJ the successor of the PCIJ 34 , this option right can be judicially enforced even today before the ICJ. The second alternative is an exchange of the current location for a new one, closer to the North Sea (Kuhwerder Hafen) and enabling the reloading of goods from river ships directly to the sea ships. This idea came first from Hamburg in relation to its plan to organize the Olympics in 2024 (in this context, the Versailles Treaty was seen as an obstacle by the local press 35 ). Although the residents of Hamburg rejected this plan in a referendum in 2015, the idea is still alive due to the city’s development plans for the area leased to the Czech Republic. In this case, it would make sense for the Czech Republic to conclude a new bilateral treaty under Article 125(2) of the UNCLOS that would replace the currently applicable international legal basis and take into account the EU law. The conclusion of such a treaty would probably not be an easy task. In this context, the rights already guaranteed to the landlocked States by the UNCLOS might be a good starting point for the negotiation on the text of a bilateral treaty, as suggested by the law of the sea experts R. R. Churchill and A. V. Lowe. 36 The UNCLOS as a Framework for the Sea Bed Mining Business After Part X of the UNCLOS (on the rights of landlocked States) comes the second most relevant for the Czech Republic Part XI on “The Area”, supplemented by the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the UNCLOS (adopted on 28 July 1994, hereinafter, the “1994 Implementation Agreement” 37 ). The “Area” is defined by Article 1(1) of the UNCLOS as “the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction”. The sea bed – in particular the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone, an area between Hawaii and Baja California, where “some 8 billion metric tons of mineable nodules are found” 38 (metal ores such as manganese, iron, nickel, copper, and cobalt) – has attracted the attention of States and mining companies. The different legal approaches on how to divide the sea bed and its resources were considered, inter alia , the equidistance principle among the coastal States, the sea bed as res 33 In Czech: Protokol I o zvláštních ujednáních, jež byla sjednána mezi Československou a Německou vládou při vydání rozhodnutí podle článků 363 a 364 mírové smlouvy Versailleské , in German: Protokoll I betreffend Sonderabmachun- gen die zwischen der Tschechoslowakischen und der Deutschen Regierung bei Erlass der Entscheidung gemäss Artikel 363/364 des Vertrags von Versailles getroffen werden sind . 34 Article 37 of the ICJ Statute: “Whenever a treaty or convention in force provides for reference of a matter to a tribunal to have been instituted by the League of Nations, or to the Permanent Court of International Justice, the matter shall, as between the parties to the present Statute, be referred to the International Court of Justice.” 35 Witte genannt VEDDER, J.: Wie der Versailler Vertrag Olympia-Pläne erschwert, Die Welt, 25 August 2015, available at: https://www.welt.de/regionales/hamburg/article145638935/Wie-der-Versailler-Vertrag-Olympia- Plaene-erschwert.html. 36 See supra note 9, p. 445: “In negotiating with a transit State a landlocked State is in a weak bargaining position because it usually has little to offer the transit State in return for the favour it is seeking. It therefore strengthens the position of a landlocked State in negotiating a new bilateral treaty or renewing an existing treaty if it can point to a general right of transit laid down in a multilateral convention.” 37 Published in the Czech Republic under Act No. 241/1996 Sb. 38 See supra 13, p. 702. 3.

385