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Freedom of the Air and the Convention on the Law of the Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Kay Hailbronner
Kay Hailbronner*
Affiliation:
University of Konstanz, Federal Republic of Germany
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Extract

Public international air law is based on two principles. The first recognizes each state’s full and absolute sovereignty over the air above its territory and territorial waters, including the right to impose its jurisdiction over such airspace. Thus, a state may require any foreign aircraft in its airspace, even if only briefly in transit, to comply with its air transport regulations, for example, those concerning the aircraft and its crew, navigation, and the environment. This right, however, is subject to those international treaty obligations the state has assumed in the interest of safe and efficient air transport. The Convention on International Civil Aviation (hereinafter referred to as the Chicago Convention), generally regarded as the Magna Charta of public international air law, requires each contracting state to “collaborate in securing the highest practicable degree of uniformity in regulations, standards, procedures and organization in relation to aircraft, personnel, airways and auxiliary services in all matters in which such uniformity will facilitate and improve air navigation.” To this end, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was granted the power to adopt international standards and recommended practices and procedures dealing with matters such as communication systems and air navigation aids, rules of the air and air traffic control practices, as well as registration and identification of aircraft. Contracting states, however, retained the right to depart from such standards or recommended practices, provided they notified the Organization of the differences between their national regulations and those prescribed by an international standard.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , July 1983 , pp. 490 - 520
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1983

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References

1 Done Dec. 7, 1944, 61 Stat. 1180, TIAS No. 1591, 1956 Bundesgesetzblatt [BGB1] II 411, 15 UNTS295.

2 Id., Art. 37.

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14 Moore, supra note 10, at 84.

15 This article was written on the basis of the text of the Convention agreed upon at the 10th session, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/L.78, of Aug. 28, 1981. No changes were made in the relevant provisions in the final text of Oct. 7, 1982, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/122, reprinted in 21 ILM 1261 (1982), and opened for signature on Dec. 10, 1982. For the codification process within the United Nations, see Hailbronner, & Fritzemeyer, , Das Recht der Vereinten Nationen (2. Teil)—Rechtsquellen, Zusländigkeiten und Arbeitsweise, 13 Juristische Arbeitsblätter 437, 444 et seq. (1981)Google Scholar.

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23 Conf. Doc. C.2/Informal Meeting/22 (Apr. 28, 1978).

24 UN Doc. A/CONF.62/L.123 (1982).

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31 Id. at 104.

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(a) when it is alleged that a coastal State has acted in contravention of the provisions of this Convention in regard to the freedoms and rights of navigation, overflight or the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, or in regard to other internationally lawful uses of the sea specified in article 58;

(b) when it is alleged that a State in exercising the aforementioned freedoms, rights or uses has acted in contravention of this Convention or of laws or regulations adopted by the coastal State in conformity with this Convention and other rules of international law not incompatible with this Convention. . . .

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50 Jaenicke, supra note 28, at 489; cf. Gündling, supra note 37, at 627.

51 The term “jurisdiction” is usually understood as granting a special and limited competence over particular events, in contrast to sovereignty, which is understood as a comprehensive and continuous competence. Cf. Mcdougal, M. & Burke, W., The Public Order of the Oceans 610 (1962)Google Scholar. Not much clarification, however, can be expected from the Convention’s terms “exclusive rights,” “sovereign rights,” “jurisdiction,” and “exclusive jurisdiction.”

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54 Cf. Gündling, supra note 37, at 640.

65 See 3 Dokumente der Dritten Seerechtskonferenz, supra note 18, at 719.

56 Cf. Gündling, supra note 37, at 640.

57 See Heller, supra note 45, at 135–53; cf. Hailbronner, Commentary, in Law of the Sea, supra note 36, at 154–58.

58 Heller, supra note 37, at 148.

59 Where a contracting state accepts the responsibility of providing air traffic services over the high seas, standards and recommended practices may be applied “in a manner consistent with [those] adopted for airspace under its jurisdiction” (see text at note 7 supra).

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66 See Convention d’Oslo pour la prévention de la pollution marine par les opérations d’immersion effectuées par les navires et aéronefs, Feb. 15, 1972, 1977 BGB1.II 165.

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86 See [1956] 1 Y.B. Int’l L. Comm’n 58, UN Doc. A/CN.4/SER.A/1956.

87 See a comment by the ICAO on the ILC draft convention, 1 United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Official Records 336, UN Doc. A/CONF.13/31 (1958); cf. N. Poulantzas, supra note 83, at 302.

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92 Christol, supra note 67, at 128–30.

95 1973 Digest of United States Practice in International Law 302; 1975 id. at 451.

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99 Ibid.

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104 For an analysis of the discussion, see M. Mcdougal & W. Burke, supra note 51, at 604 et seq.; K. Hailbronner, supra note 81, at 88 et seq.

105 M. Mcdougal & W. Burke, supra note 51, at 605 and 606.

106 Id. at 594; see also M. Mcdougal, H. Lasswell, & I. Vlasic, supra note 60, at 310.

107 For the state practice, see K. Hailbronner, supra note 81, at 81–87.

108 M. McDougal, H. Lasswell, & I. Vlasic, supra note 60, at 310; N. Poulantzas, supra note 83, at 298 et seq.

109 For a more detailed discussion of this issue, see K. Hailbronner, supra note 81, at 100–09.

110 Id. at 101.

111 Id. at 109.

112 UN Doc. A/CONF.13/5 and Adds. 1–4 (1958), 1 United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Official Records 75, 78–79; 4 id. at 90 et seq.