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.