The purpose of this image (picture) of a habour is to underline that this website is focused on informing about my book on UNCLOS and genereally inform and educate on the United Nations Convention on the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS) and how the provisions of this convention (especially those found in PART XII of UNCLOS regarding port State, flag State and coastal State jurisdiction for enforcement of environmental regulation, such as articles 217, 218, 220 and 228) can be used to effectively enforce international maritime rules for protection of the environment and climate, adopted by the UN’s International Maritime Organization (the IMO).
Especially, focusing on UNCLOS allowing for port States to enforce IMO rules on GHG, irrespective of where the emission violations occur. For example, through Port State Control (PSC). This is relevant for current adopted GHG rules by the IMO, including CII, SEEMP, EEDI and EEXI but also in relation to the adoption of a “fuel standard” following the IMO’s revised GHG strategy. It also analysis how UNCLOS applies to EU regulation addressing GHG from shipping, implemented as part of the EU’s “Fit For 55” legislative package, including adoption of the FuelEU Maritime, including shipping in the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS maritime) and setting reduction goals for shipping in the third version of the Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII).
The website also discusses, through the analysis of the ILC texts and ICJ caselaw, whether a Fuel Standard rule for not allowing GHG emissions, could be considered the first accepted peremptory environmental norm of a jus cogens character. This would have immense consequences in terms of enforcement, for example by not only conferring jurisdictional rights for all States to enforce following the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, but also by obligating all States (including flag States) to enforce due to such a “jus cogens” norm due to the principle of Erga Omnes. Thus, all States would, irrespective of them being party to international (IMO) legislation and/or UNCLOS, be subject to State Responsibility under the convention of Article on Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts (ARIWA) if falling to do so.
The website also has blog where posts are made about developments in relation to UNCLOS, for example the BBNJ agreement, Seabed mining through the International Seabed Authority, ITLOS decisions and advisory opinions, including on climate.
All this, and more, is also described in my book “Enforcing International Maritime Legislation on Air Pollution through UNCLOS” which is also promoted on this website and links are made to where it can be bought, e.g. at Amazon and Hart Publishing from Oxford.
My background for making the conclusions on this website and writing the book (“Enforcing International Maritime Legislation on Air Pollution through UNCLOS”) stems from both working with this subject matter at different Danish authorities (Environmental Protection Agency and the Maritime Authority), but also from teaching International Law (which includes Law of the Sea and UNCLOS and ARSIWA and Jurisdiction and Jus Cogens and Erga Omnes) at Copenhagen University for over 10 years as an associated professor. I have also written articles on this and contributed with chapters for other legal works.

What is Port State Control?

This page describes what PSC (Port State Control) is and the History behind it. It also explains how PSC inspections (initial and detailed) are performed and are coordinated under different Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for example “Paris Mou” and “Tokyo MoU”. Also how PSC aligns with UNCLOS, including the principle of ‘ No More Favourable Treatment

Many port States perform controls, i.e. Port State Controls (PSCs) of foreign vessel which voluntary come into port. These control have a focus on ensuring compliance with certain internationally accepted rules and regulations adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) regarding onboard safety, navigational safety, manning and the protection of the marine environment and climate, including GHG rules on CII, EEDI, EEXI and a future Fuel Standard. Also rules from the International Labour Organization (ILO) on working condition are enforced.

All ships are subjected to periodic PSC inspections in foreign ports. PSC always consists of an “initial inspection” entailing a document control, including controlling EEDI, EEXI and CII document compliance. Furthermore, a “detailed inspection” of the physical condition of the vessel, including fuel sampling and talking to crew regarding working conditions, can be carried out if the port state control officer (PSCO) find reasons for it, or the ships has previously received differences in this or other ports or the detailed inspection is part of a an concentrated inspection campaign where port States are ensuring compliance with a specific IMO regulation, for example GHG or SOx requirements in MARPOL Annex VI by taking fuel samples on all PSC inspected vessels during a specific period.

History of PSC

Port State Control was originally preformed sporadically from port State to port State on an inconsistent basis. In 1978, a multilateral administrative arrangement was drawn up in Th e Hague between a number of European port States. This agreement (The Hague Memorandum) aimed at establishing coordinated regional PSC between the participating States based on unified criteria. The goal was to ensure that all ships voluntarily calling into a port in those countries complied with the requirements of ILO Convention no 147 on minimum standards in merchant ships, pertaining to working conditions on board merchant ships. Th e agreement was scheduled to enter into force in July 1978, but this was delayed due to the running aground of the Liberian oil tanker Amoco Cadiz off the west coast of Brittany on 16 March that year. The incident resulted in a massive oil spill, and consequently the States participating in The Hague Memorandum agreed to expand the regulatory scope of the PSC agreement to include ensuring compliance with applicable IMO (IMCO) regulations on safety and environmental protection. This extension was adopted in Paris in 1982 as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This agreement is therefore often referred to as the “Paris MoU ’.

PSC coordinated through MoU’s

This form of regional coordination of PSC through MoUs spread, following the adoption of the Paris MoU, to other parts of world. The EU has also tried to coordinate mandatory PSC measures between EU Member States by adopting regional legislation, the Port State Control Directive (PSC Directive). The international regulations with which PSCs aim to ensure compliance include the following IMO conventions: MARPOL (and its Annexes) SOLAS, Ballast Water Management Convention, STCW Convention. The Hong Kong Convention on environmentally sound recycling of ships when it enters into force June 2025. The ILO’s MLC Convention is also covered.

Several other European States, and Canada and Russia, have, since its adoption in 1982, joined the Paris MoU, leading to a total 27 participating States 16 bordering the Atlantic region, thereby ensuring that most (if not all) merchant ships crossing the Atlantic on a regular basis can be subjected to a PSC.

In December 1993 a Tokyo MoU was adopted, entering into force in April 1994, which focuses on PSC in the Pacific region.

Seven other regions have since established such MoUs, covering most of the world’s oceans. These are the Caribbean MoU, the Mediterranean MoU, the Indian Ocean MoU, the Abuja MoU, the Black Sea MoU, the Riyadh MoU and the Acuerdo de Vina del Mar MoU.

It should be noted that the United States (US) adopts a singularly unilateral approach to PSC. Many countries are parties to different MoUs as a result of their natural geographic locations. For example, Canada is party to the Paris and Tokyo MoUs, Australia to the Tokyo and Indian Ocean MoUs, and Russia to the Paris, Tokyo and Black Sea MoUs.

Each MoU has it own underlying Memorandum (of Understanding), which sets out the conditions and principles for PSC in that region, although many of these MoUs are modelled on the original Paris Memorandum.

You can read more about PSC here on the IMO’s webpage: Port State Control (imo.org)

Port State Control in the EU
Many EU Member States, which are required to comply with the PSC Directive, are furthermore voluntary parties to the Paris MoU. It therefore comes as little or no surprise that the PSC Directive contains several references to the Paris Memorandum, linking the two European PSC schemes. For instance, in paragraph 13 of the Preamble to the PSC Directive it is asserted that: The inspection system set up by this Directive takes into account the work carried under the Paris MoU.

White-, Grey- and Black-listed Flag States

The different MoUs enter their PSC findings into joint databases, 32 where the deficiencies found on each ship are recorded, including information on which flag it flies. The Paris MoU, as expressed in paragraph 3 of Annex 3 to the PSC Memorandum, uses these data to calculate the white, grey and black lists of flag States.

Vessels with many noted deficiencies in the system can be subjected to more reoccurring PSC’s, fines and detentions, and perhaps even refusal of access into foreign ports.

The Principle of ‘ No More Favourable Treatment

The principle of ‘No more favourable treatment’ confers a right for port States to ensure that all ships that voluntarily call into a port in the State comply with the relevant international regulations, regardless of whether the ship’s flag State is party to the regulations or not. This is conditional on the IMO or ILO conventions’ having incorporated the, and on the port State having ratified and implemented this regulation.

Port State Control in relation to UNCLOS
Read more about PSC and how it – and the mentioned punitive elements (inspections, fines, detention and refusal of access) – align with the provisions of Part XII of UNCLOS, Articles 224-227 (in particular Article 226) in chapter 4 of the book “Enforcing International Legislation on Air Pollution through UNCLOS”. For more on this see here: Book About UNCLOS