ABSTRACT
Arctic states. As provided by a valid principle of international law, the due diligence
principle: ’States have...the responsibility to ensure that activities within their
jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment o f other States or o f
areas beyond national jurisdiction’1023 024. As discussed above,1025 the due diligence
principle expresses states’ obligations towards ’the environment o f other States and
o f areas beyond national jurisdiction’. Since there are great difficulties in determining
the legal status o f the areas of jurisdictional competence as either part o f state
territory or as part of international areas, this formulation describes what the due
diligence principle requires: since the term ’jurisdiction’ is used, areas beyond states’ national jurisdiction are clearly those areas that are outside the areas of the
jurisdictional competence of states, not merely outside their areas o f territorial
sovereignty. Hence, in the context of the principle of due diligence international areas
mean only those areas that are outside the areas of states’ national jurisdiction.
