Port State Jurisdiction: Challenges and Potential

Abstract

Confronted with the failures of flag states to adequately regulate their vessels, and/or to enforce applicable law, port states may assume a subsidiary regulatory and enforcement role. Exercising port state jurisdiction (PSJ) over foreign-flagged vessels, these port states may give effect to generally applicable international rules and standards, or simply apply their own laws. As the exercise of PSJ over foreign-flagged vessels often has effects outside the port, or even aims to regulate activities beyond national jurisdiction, legitimate questions as to the territorial nature of PSJ can be asked. It transpires, however, that most assertions of PSJ can formally be justified under a broad construction of the territoriality principle. Alternatively, they can find their basis in multilateral agreements or simply in the desire to protect common concerns. As the legality net regarding PSJ could thus be cast rather wide, the question, i.e., to what limitations such jurisdiction is subject, inevitably arises.