ABSTRACT
The measure of port closure is not in itself excluded by the law of the sea since ports fall within the exclusive sovereignty of the State. There is no right of entry into a foreign port under international law, since the port is located in internal waters, and unless an international agreement has been reached, the coastal State may choose whether or not to admit a foreign ship. The infringement to the letter of the international rules on the subject emerges, as people have attempted to demonstrate, from the claim to qualify a priori as offensive the passage into the territorial sea of ships engaged in “unauthorized” rescue operations. At the time of writing, various appeals are pending before the Constitutional Court in order to have this new legislation declared unconstitutional. In the political arena, amendments are being discussed, in particular with a Project of Law which deletes article 1 of the so called “security decree bis”.
