ABSTRACT
Since World War II, the agreement on coastal state jurisdiction over the sea areas
falling under the freedom of the high seas has considerably reduced the rights enjoyed by all states in international areas. This phenomenon, called ’creeping
jurisdiction’, has been very pronounced in the Arctic waters for several reasons. First,
the Arctic littoral states have made ample use of the new possibilities of maritime
jurisdiction to enclose areas previously considered international areas within their
coastal state jurisdiction, a practice which has also resulted in many conflicts between
the Arctic states. Second, the Arctic waters are shallow in many places, which allows
for extensive claims to the continental shelf and potentially reduces international
areas even more. Before studying these different zones o f jurisdictional competence
in detail, it will be instructive to consider one problematic area o f jurisdictional
competence, the maritime zones around the Svalbard Islands.