Innocent,transit, and archipelagic sea lanes passage

Abstract

Norway is involved in two maritime boundary disputes with the Soviet Union. In relation to Svalbard, the Soviet Union argues that the archipelago has a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of its own to which all parties to the Svalbard Treaty have equal access. This is disputed by Norway, which maintains that such a view of the matter implies an expansive interpretation of the Svalbard Treaty for which there is no support in international legal practice. In the Barents Sea there is a continuing dispute between Norway and the Soviet Union over the proper location of the continental shelf and EEZ boundaries. This article sets out some of the reasons behind the different arguments on which the two base their respective cases, and the reasons why Norway in the absence of a delineated boundary has refused to accept Soviet proposals for economic cooperation in the disputed ocean area. Major emphasis is placed on the confluence of several circumstances inter alia, geopolitical and historical factors, a strongly asymmetrical power relationship, and legal ambiguity.