Koncept jedinstvene morske granice i rješavanje spora o razgraničenju u Crnome moru : Rumunjska – Ukrajina
The concept of a single maritime boundary and the settlement of a dispute concerning delimitation in the Black Sea : Romania – Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: The recent case law confirms a trend towards a single-line maritime delimitation of continental shelves and exclusive economic zones between states with opposite or adjacent coasts. This paper focuses on the establishment of such a common border line, which was requested by Romania and Ukraine in the proceedings before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.Two adjacent and opposite coastal states in the north-western part of the Black Sea disagreed regarding the course of the maritime boundary to be established, and in particular on the role of the Serpents’ Island, situated approximately 20 nautical miles east of the Danube delta. The paper explores the historical roots of their dispute, as well as the causes of unsuccessful negotiations during the period of six years, and analyses the proceedings before the Court. In a unanimous decision in 2009, the Court determined - in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - the course of a single maritime boundary between the continental shelves and exclusive economic zones of the two states. In a carefully reasoned decision, the Court for the first time set out its ‘’delimitation methodology’’, already developed in its previous jurisprudence, and explicitly provided three stages of this process. The first stage is the establishment of a provisional delimitation line; the second is consideration whether there are factors calling for the adjustment or shifting of that line; and finally, in the third stage, the Court verifies that the line does not lead to an inequitable result. The Judgment contains a number of useful clarifications of articles in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, notably 74 and 83, which is of particular importance for the future delimitations of the Republic of Croatia with the neighbouring states in the Adriatic.

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