About safety of artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf

IAA PortNews publishes the article of Konstantin Palnikov, Director of the Department of State Policy for Marine and River Transport, dedicated to safety aspects of artificial islands, installations and structures at the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.

Large-scale development of the fields on the continental shelf is one of the priorities of the state policy in the sphere of national security protection, socioeconomic as well as scientific and industrial development of the Russian Federation, states the Decree of RF President dated July 27, 2001 “On approval of the Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation for the period till 2020” and the Order of RF Government dated December 8, 2010  No 2205-р “On approval of the Strategy for the development of maritime activities in the Russian Federation up to 2030”.

The existing projects on the development of the continental shelf of the Russian Federation provide for placement of installations beyond 12 nautical miles from the shore, that is outside the territorial sea of the Russian Federation (RF territory).

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, hereinafter UN Convention), the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the  submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. With this, the rights of the coastal State over the continental shelf do not affect the legal status of the superjacent waters or of the air space above those waters (clause 1 of Article 78, UN Convention). Therefore, the legal status of the superjacent waters is regulated by norms applied to exclusive economic zone. The rights and jurisdiction in exclusive economic zone of the coastal state are not exclusive as, for instance, in the territorial sea.

So, when enforcing her rights on the continental shelf the Russian Federation should take into consideration the rights and freedoms of other states, which are regulated by the related provisions of the UN Convention.

The analysis of the norms of the international agreements shows that today there is no special international agreement regulating the issues of establishment of the shelf installations and structures. However, it should be noted that according to the UN Convention, artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf.

At the same time, Article 60 of the UN Convention says that in the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State shall have the exclusive right to construct and to authorize and regulate the construction, operation and use of artificial islands, installations and structures for the purposes provided for in article 56 and other economic purposes as well as installations and structures which may interfere with the exercise of the rights of the coastal State in the zone.

And the coastal State shall have exclusive jurisdiction over such artificial islands, installations and structures, including jurisdiction with regard to customs, fiscal, health, safety and immigration laws and regulations. In particular, the coastal State may, where necessary, establish reasonable safety zones around such artificial islands, installations and structures in which it may take appropriate measures to ensure the safety both of navigation and of the artificial islands, installations and structures.

The Federal Law No 187-FZ of November 30, 1995 “About the continental shelf of the Russian Federation” (Article 16) sets forth that Safety zones extending for not more than 500 metres from each point on the outer edge of artificial islands, installations and structures shall be established around such islands, installations and structures.
The aspects of safe navigation are regulated by the Merchant Marine Code of the Russian Federation and international agreements of the Russian Federation:
International Load Line Convention of 1966; International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships of 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 (MARPOL 73/78); International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea of 1974, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 and Protocol of 1988 (SOLAS -74); Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea of 1972; International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue of 1979 (SAR-79); International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping for Seafarers of 1978 with modifications (STCW).
The above conventions are elaborated and maintained by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

According to the Federal Law No 16-FZ of February 9, 2007 “About Transport Safety”, the requirements and norms related to transport safety are determined by the federal executive body exercising the functions on the formulation of State policy and the normative legal regulation in the sphere of transport (RF Transport Ministry) in coordination with the federal executive body in the sphere of RF safety control (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), federal executive body exercising the functions on the formulation of State policy and the normative legal regulation in the sphere of internal affairs (RF Ministry of Internal Affairs).

Since RF Ministry of Internal Affairs does not have necessary resources to ensure safety of artificial islands, installations and structures, taking into consideration the remote location of such artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation, the related resources of the RF Ministry of Defense (Navy) are to be attracted to ensure safety of such artificial islands, installations and structures.

In order to enforce the provisions of the federal laws related to transport safety and safety zones around artificial islands, installations and structures, RF Transport Ministry has developed and RF President signed the Decree of RF President No 23 of January 14, 2013 “About determining of federal executive bodies responsible for establishing of measures ensuring safe navigation and safety of artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation”.

The Decree assigns navigation safety aspects to the competence of RF Transport Ministry with respect to the necessity of regulating measures ensuring safe navigation in safety zones established around the artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.

So, according to the Decree, issues related to safety, including possible terroristic and other threats in respect to the artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation, are attributed to the competence of RF Transport Ministry in conjunction with the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Authorization of the federal executive bodies to establish measures ensuring safe navigation in safety zones around the artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation as well as safety of such islands, installations and structures, makes it possible to develop an efficient legal mechanism ensuring safety of the above sites and creates conditions for implementation of state tasks on ensuring citizens’ personal security.

Konstantin Palnikov, Director of the Department of State Policy for Marine and River Transport.