Abstract:

The ongoing issue of delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, firstly between Romania and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and between Romania and Ukraine after 1991, was brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by Romania on 16thSeptember 2004. The ICJ, having considered the geographical features of the region and having disregarded the discussions on the legal characteristics of Serpents' Island, did no account of the presence of the island in question while designating appropriate reference points for the determination of the equal-distance line in the maritime delimitation; in other words, it did not bestow continental shelf and exclusive economic zone on the island. This position adopted by the ICJ is of vital importance within the context of the Aegean Sea territorial waters/continental shelf dispute between Turkey and Greece, and of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone dispute between Greece, Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus and Turkey. Furthermore, in the case of maritime delimitation in the Black Sea, the verdict of delimitation may reach up to a certain extent as long as the interests of the third state parties are not affected, the lack of determination of an absolute terminus ad quem, is of particular concern to Turkey and Bulgaria as the disputes over exclusive economic zone and continental shelf boundaries between these States have not been solved. With the execution of the accentuated delimitation process shall provide a certain determination of the boundaries, of which the terminus ad quem was not established by the verdict, and shall prevent the probable disputes among the regional nations.

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