Standpoints of States with Regard to the Legal Regime of Economic Activity at Spitsbergen and in the Adjacent Maritime Areas

Abstract

Reversal of the Norwegian policy in the middle 70s of the past century towards unilateral regulation of economic activity in the 200 Mile maritime zone beyond the limits of territorial waters of Spitsbergen induced mixed response on the part of interested states. The majority of arctic states took negatively the efforts of Norway to modify the current multilateral regime of maritime zones of Spitsbergen which was based on Paris Treaty 1920 and still do not recognise the jusridictional claims of Norway which do not find their support in Paris Treaty 1920 by its integrated analysis. In this publication the author aims to draw attention of the Russian audience to the standpoints of some foreign states that are broadly involved in the economic activity in the Spitsbergen waters, with regard to extension by Norway of its jurisdictional claims beyond the territorial waters of Spitsbergen.