Regulatory Gaps in Baltic Sea Governance

The focus of this publication is the uniqueness of the Baltic Sea from a legal perspective, and the regulatory voids that result from the multiple layers of regulation this area is subjected to: up to six layers of regulation (general international law, regional conventions, EU law, national laws, local and municipal rules plus a whole range of non-binding norms and other 'soft law' arrangements) act in parallel. However, a large number of rules or regulatory layers does not in itself ensure effectiveness or consistency. When the regulatory landscape is approached from the point of view of individual substantive topics, it is apparent that the norms of different regulatory layers entail both overlaps, gaps and uncertainties, differently for each topic. This publication addresses a selection of topics that are decidedly international in nature, but for which current international and EU rules include important gaps or uncertainties.

In addition to presenting a set of legal analyses of topical issues for the region, which in itself is a meritorious objective in view of the relative scarcity of legal studies with a focus on the Baltic Sea, the publication also seeks to analyze the regulatory 'anatomy' of the selected issues in more detail. Through the legal analyses the chapters explore how regulatory gaps are formed, how they are filled, how the rules of the different layers work together and interact with each other in the selected areas. Accordingly, the secondary ambition is to explore, through the chapters, whether more general conclusions can be drawn about the nature of the regulatory gaps and multi-layerism in order to produce a better understanding of how regulations on multiple levels operate in practice.

Dr Henrik Ringbom is Professor II (part-time) at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Oslo and Adjunct Professor at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku/Finland. He is currently responsible for setting up BALEX, a joint iniative of the Faculty of Law of the University of Turku and the Department of Law at Åbo Akademi University which focuses on legal research and training on issues related to the Baltic Sea Region.

His work experience includes being Head of Unit for Marine Environment, Training and Statistics at the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in Lisbon (2007-2012), Research Fellow at the University of Oslo (2003-2007) and Administrator at the Maritime Safety Unit of the European Commission in Brussels (1997-2003).

He has published widely in the field of European and international shipping law and is the author of the book The EU Maritime Safety Policy and International Law (Brill, 2008) and editor of Jurisdiction over Ships (Brill 2015). He is also the Chairman of the Finnish Maritime Law Association.