LO STATO DEL PORTO NEL DIRITTO INTERNAZIONALE

The thesis aims at appraising the role of port state in international law by analyzing the whole of rights, duties and obligations ascribed to it by relevant legal instruments adopted in various fields of the law of the sea. After considering some preliminary questions, namely the notion of “port state” in opposition to coastal and flag states, the first chapter deals with the legal regime of port state extra-territorial jurisdiction under Article 218 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant provisions of this Convention. In the second chapter, the focus is on Port State Control as provided by a number of international legal conventions and soft law instruments relating to the prevention of marine pollution, safety and security matters as a complementary tool to the flag state principle. The next two chapters further address the responsibility assumed by port states to ensure compliance and implementation of international rules and standards concerning living and working conditions of seafarers on board merchant and fishing ships as well as port state measures adopted at the international and regional level in order to curb the phenomenon of illegal, unregulated and unauthorized fishing on the high sea. Subsequent chapters explore the various regional memoranda of understanding on Port State Control and the rights and obligations of EU members acting as port states under the relevant EU legislation. Finally, the research undertaken shows that the role of port state under international law has gone through significant changes both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Thus, it may be argued that port state is being more and more considered as acting for the protection of common values and goods.