Study On The Legal Regime Of Prevention And Control Of Ship-Source Pollution In Arctic Waterways

In the context of global warming and diminishing polar ice,commercial shipping activities are increasing in the Arctic.The international community has begun to attach importance to the value of the Arctic waterways and is committed to developing the Arctic economy.However,the Arctic ecological environment is extremely fragile,and the extreme cold and freezing weather have become a great challenge to deal with ship-source pollution.Thus,it is urgent and practical to prevent and control ship-source pollution in the Arctic waterways.In view of the large number and complexity of the current legal norms regulating ship-source pollution in Arctic waters,explore the problems of existing legal regimes and clarify China’s position and strategy,based on the legal system established by international conventions and the Arctic countries’ domestic laws.The legal regimes for prevention and control of ship-source pollution in the Arctic waterways takes "prevention and control" of ship pollution as the basic content,consisting of a precautionary safety prevention regime and an accident emergency response regime.Its governance model has undergone the "negation of the Antarctic model" and the UNCLOS model,and now it is developing in the direction of regional informal consultation mechanism.In terms of specific legal provisions,there are international universal conventions headed by UNCLOS and MARPOL,Arctic regional adjustment mechanisms based on the Polar Code and MOSPA agreements,and Arctic countries’ legal norms such as the United States,Canada and Russia.For the precautionary safety prevention regime,its specific requirements and implementation have been carried out in both international conventions and domestic laws.Specific requirements include the regulatory scope of safety precautions,construction standards of Arctic ships,ship-source pollution prevention documents and information declaration systems;the implementation covers ship-source pollution law enforcement agencies,authorities and legal responsibilities.While national laws strive to harmonize with the international legal regime,the Polar Code,a regional legal norm,also has the disadvantages of content limitations and implementation obstacles.The lack of content is mainly reflected in the failure to effectively regulate the problem of heavy oil and greywater,and the lack of implementation is caused by jurisdiction conflict of the Polar Code and UNCLOS and the missing enforcement agencies.For the emergency response regime,the Arctic countries’ domestic laws focus on building a national ship-source pollution response regime from two aspects: the emergency response organization regime and the reporting and disposal procedures for ship-source pollution accidents.As for international cooperation,the regime under the MOSPA agreement and relevant bilateral or multilateral agreements plays an important role.However,the existing regime has substantive problems such as non-mandatory rights and obligations,limited pollution sources,broad rule-making,and one-sided adjustment of subjects.Besides,the inferiority of MOSPA Agreement validity and the weakness in dispute settlement are shortcomings in the procedure.In response to the questions raised above,since China is a Near-Arctic State,the legal basis for UNCLOS,the theoretical basis for a community with a shared future for mankind,and the practical basis for global public goods provide the legitimacy of China’s participation in prevention and control of ship-source pollution in Arctic waterways.With regard to specific strategies for China,it should take advantage of its position in international organizations,vigorously promote good governance in the Arctic,and promote bilateral or multilateral cooperation with friendly and cooperative attitude.In China,the construction of relevant internal legal regime should be accelerated from the trinity of policy guidance,norm formulation and regime implementation.