Identification of ‘High Risk Vessels’ in coastal waters

The development of criteria for the identification of ‘High Risk Vessels’ (HRV) in European waters would allow coastal States to monitor the movements of ships posing significant risk to their interests. However, the pro-active monitoring by coastal States can only be carried out in compliance with the requirements of international law of the sea and with the framework of rights and duties of coastal States established in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This paper proposes ‘HRV’ criteria on the basis of technical standards and rules widely accepted by States through Port State Control Agreements, thus providing a legal basis for the monitoring of ‘HRV’ by coastal States.