Résumé:
The Sea has always been and is up to today a source of alimentation for people and nations. It isconsidered as a huge energy and food wealth, in the same time it facilitate mobility around the globe for people and trade . More than sixty per cent ( 60%) of the globe technologies are provided by western countries who care very much for strategic and economic growth and calling for free shipping.
Risk at sea are enormous and wide , be it transportation or energies prospection , fishing etc … The concept of the exclusive economic zone is an essential element of the ""package"" of compromises and trade-offs that constitutes the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is a concept which has received rapid and widespread acceptance in state practice and is thus now considered by some to be part of customary international law.
The problems occuring in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which is a special Sui generis
zone , part of the high sea in which the coatal state enjoy economic sovereignty are looked at from the prism of the Convention on the law of the sea of 1982. The EEZ is an area of the sea extending to 200 miles from the coast. The coastal state has fishing rights and enjoy the exclusive sovereignty on any other economic activities. Users of the sea will execice their right of freedom of navigation since the EEZ is part of the high seas.
Conflicts related to the sea are increasing and the 1982 Convention on the law of the sea has
developped a legal mecanism called the Law of the sea Tribunal to see this new international
judiciary body intervene and bring a juridical and judicial solution to conflicts arising at sea especially those occuring in the EEZ and the continental shelf.
In this research the evolution of the concept of the exclusive economic zone will be traced from
its origins to its final form in the Convention, to give an insight into the balance of legal, economic and political interest that was involved in the development of the final text . The study will Review the negotiations at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the sea The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ( ITLOS) is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
It was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982.
The Jurisdiction of the Tribunal comprises all disputes submitted to it in accordance with the
Convention. It also extends to all matters specifically provided for in any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on the Tribunal. To date, sixteen multilateral agreements have been concluded which confer jurisdiction on the Tribunal .
Unless the parties otherwise agree, the jurisdiction of the Tribunal is mandatory in cases
relating to the prompt release of vessels and crews under article 292 of the Convention and to
provisional measures pending the constitution of an arbitral tribunal under article 290, paragraph 5, of the Convention.
Disputes before the Tribunal are instituted either by written application or by notification of a special agreement. The procedure to be followed for the conduct of cases submitted to the Tribunal is defined in its Statute and Rules.
