| Author (Corporate) | Cardiff EDC (Compiler) |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2021-2022 |
| Content Type | News, Overview |
Summary:Information Guide concerning Cases C-14/21 and C-15/21 from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), focusing on activities relating to the search for and rescue of persons in danger or distress at sea. Further information:Sea Watch is a humanitarian organisation registered in Germany. It carries out activities relating to the search for and rescue of persons in the Mediterranean Sea, using ships in respect of which it is both the owner and the operator. Those ships include Sea Watch 3 and Sea Watch 4, which fly the German flag and which have been certified as cargo ships. In 2020, those two ships carried out recue operations and disembarked the persons rescued at sea in two Italian ports. They were then subject to inspections by the harbour master’s offices of those ports on the grounds that they were not certified in respect of search and rescue activities at sea and had taken persons on board in much greater numbers than they were authorised to accommodate. Those harbour master’s offices also considered that there were technical and operational deficiencies giving rise to a clear risk to safety, health or the environment and making detention of the ships necessary. Sea Watch brought two actions for the annulment of those measures before the Regional Administrative Court of Sicily (Italy). In that context, it claimed that the harbour master’s offices had exceeded the powers of the authorities of the port State, as derived from Directive 2009/16l, interpreted in the light of international law. The Regional Administrative Court of Sicily referred questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling in order to clarify the extent of the port State’s powers of control and detention over ships operated by humanitarian organisations. On 1 August 2022, the Court ruled that ships of humanitarian organisations systematically carrying out activities relating to the search for and rescue of persons at sea may be subject to controls by the port State. However, the port State may adopt detention measures only in the event of a clear risk to safety, health or the environment, which it is for that State to demonstrate. |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Law, Mobility and Transport |
| Subject Tags | Asylum | Refugees, EU Law, Transport Infrastructure, Waterway Transport |
| Keywords | CJEU Judgments, Ports |
| Countries / Regions | Italy |
| International Organisations | European Union [EU] |
