It addresses, inter alia, domestic implementation of the Polar Code; the extent of States’ rights to govern international navigation according to the law of the sea; States’ management of new challenges from cruise ships; and the relationship between the rights of Coastal States and Flag States in the negotiations leading to the Polar Code, with emphasis on the ambiguous status of article 234.

Speakers:

• Alexander Sergunin, Professor of International Relations, St. Petersburg State University: Implementing the IMO’s Polar Code: the Case of Russia.
• Valery Konyshev, Professor of International Relations at the St. Petersburg State University: International legal status of the Northern Sea Route: Discussions in the Western and Russian Expert Communities
• Suzanne Lalonde, Professor of Law, University of Montreal: Cruising the Northwest Passage: What Can We Learn from the Management of the Crystal Serenity Voyage
• Dorottya Bognar, PhD Candidate, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø: The “Elephant in the Room”: Article 234 of the Law of the Sea Convention and the Polar Code as an Incompletely Theorized Agreement.

Chair:

• Timo Koivurova, Professor of Law, Director of the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland