ABSTRACT
The study analyses contemporary threats to shipping safety and proposes modifications to the provisions and formulas for the interpretation of international conventions and IMO regulations. In the author’s opinion, only their adaptation to the specificity of hybrid and asymmetric threats will enable them to be effectively counteracted. The aim of these modifications should be, in line with the concept of freedom of the seas, to expand the spectrum of possibilities for carrying out protective activities towards marine installations and water areas that are an important element of the shipping system. They should also enable responses to threats other than acts of maritime piracy or armed attack at sea. Modifications of a remedial nature should relate to the possibility of broadening the interpretation of the provisions of the SUA, UNCLOS and Solas conventions. The author’s proposals concern the use of the definition of “state of emergency”, broadening the interpretation of Art. 6 of the EUS Convention and the use of Art. 104, 192 and 194 of the UNCLOS convention to combat attacks on maritime vessels carried out from land. However, to counteract the phenomenon of using scientific research for military purposes or hybrid activities, not only the provisions of Art. 1436 and 145 but also Art. 194 of this convention. However, the ultimate solution is to introduce a new concept, which is the act of unlawful interference at sea.
