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Freedom of Transit of Landlocked Countries in Light of International Multilateral Agreements

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The WTO Transit Regime for Landlocked Countries and its Impacts on Members’ Regional Transit Agreements

Part of the book series: European Yearbook of International Economic Law ((EYIELMONO,volume 17))

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Abstract

Transit is understood as the movement of goods and persons and freedom of transit is the unrestricted movement of goods and persons. Freedom of transit finds its legal roots in the natural law and the Roman principle of ‘servitude’. Advocates of natural law see freedom of transit in light of free access to the sea and believe that access to the high seas is a natural right of all nations and therefore landlocked States should enjoy the freedom of transit in order benefit from it, as free access to the sea can only be established where freedom of transit exists. Similarly, the ancient Roman legal principle of ‘servitude’ provides that the owner of property could enjoy all kinds of rights and actions on the land unless their exercise harmed the fundamental rights of the neighbor’s land.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Melgar (Ch.1, note 2), p. 300, 325.

  2. 2.

    Grotius (1916), pp. 9–10; see also Pounds (1959), pp. 257–59.

  3. 3.

    Livesey Burdic (2007), pp. 360–364; see also Parisi (Ch.1, note 6); Yianopoulois (1983), p. 520.

  4. 4.

    See for example Lesaffer (2005), Castellino and Allen (2003), Lauterpacht (1927), Zhou (2003), pp. 126–179.

  5. 5.

    See generally Barcelona Statute.

  6. 6.

    See generally (Ch.1, note 13).

  7. 7.

    For a detailed list of all international conventions, treaties and agreements governing transit of landlocked countries see Glassner (2001); see also UNCLOS, Question of Free Access to the Sea of Land-Locked Countries, A/CONF.13/29 & Add. 1 (Geneva, 1957).

  8. 8.

    Art. 2 Barcelona Statute.

  9. 9.

    WTO, Glossary of Terms.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    Art. 14 Barcelona Statute.

  12. 12.

    Ibid., Art. 8.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., Art. 7.

  14. 14.

    Makil (1970), p. 40; see also Uprety (1994), p. 432.

  15. 15.

    UNCTE, Final Act and Related Documents, UN Doc. E/CONF.2/78, U.N. Sales No. II.D.4 (1948); see also UNCTE, Interpretive Note, Annex P to the U. N. Charter, UN Doc. E/CONF.2/78 (1948).

  16. 16.

    For the text of the Havana Charter see UNCTE, Final Act and Related Documents, note (15).

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 111.

  18. 18.

    WTO, Glossary of Terms.

  19. 19.

    See Uprety (1994), pp. 441–42.

  20. 20.

    See generally New York Convention, chp.1 (note 13).

  21. 21.

    See UNCTAD, UN ESCOR, 35th plen. mtg. UN Doc. E/CONF. 46/141, Vol. VI, 3 (1964); for literature review see Uprety (1994), pp. 441–42.

  22. 22.

    See generally New York Convention, chp.1 (note 13).

  23. 23.

    Ibid., princ. VII & Art. X.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    See Uprety (1994), p. 449.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., 485–86.

  27. 27.

    See generally TIR Convention.

  28. 28.

    See UNECE, TIR Handbook, UN Doc. ECE/TRANS/TIR/6/REV.11 (2018); for more information see also UNECE Website, http://www.enece.org/trans/conventn/legalinst_43_bcf_tir_1975.html.

  29. 29.

    Art. 5 TIR Convention.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.; see also Ibid., annex 2 & annex 7.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., Art. 6 & annex 9.

  32. 32.

    See UNECE, Explanatory Note to Article 8, paragraph 3, The TIR Convention 1979, 9 REV. 50, http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/tir/handbook/english/newtirhand/TIR-6Rev9EN_Convention.pdf. [hereinafter Explanatory Note to TIR Article 8(3)].

  33. 33.

    Art. 8 TIR Convention.

  34. 34.

    Explanatory Note to TIR Article 8(3), (note 32).

  35. 35.

    Art. 9 TIR Convention.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., Art. 17.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., Art.5.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., annex 9, part I.

  39. 39.

    UNCLOS III 1973-1982, UN. Code. Div. Office of Legal Affairs, http://legal.un.org/diplomaticconferences/lawofthesea-1982/lawofthesea-1982.html.

  40. 40.

    Art. 320 UNCLOS.

  41. 41.

    See UN, United Nations Oceans and Law of the Sea: Chronological List of Ratification of, Accession and Succession to the Convention and Related Agreements, https://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/chronological_lists_of_ratifications.htm; see also UNOHRLLS, UNCLOS and Landlocked Developing Countries: Practical Implications: Summary Report, 2 (2012).

  42. 42.

    UNTC, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXI6&chapter=21&Temp=mtdsg&clang=_en#4.

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    UNGA, 28th Sess., Supple No. 21 & corr.1 & 3, vol. II, annex VI, sect. 5, Draft Articles Relating to Landlocked States, UN Doc. A/AC. 138/93, A/CONF.62/C.2/L.29 at 1 (1973); see also UNCLOS III, 2nd Comm, Revised Draft Articles in keeping with the Declaration of Developing Land-Locked and other Geographically Disadvantaged States, Doc. A/CONF.62/C.2/97 (1974).

  45. 45.

    UNCLOS III, Revised Draft Articles, (note 44), draft Art. III.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., draft Art. II.

  47. 47.

    UNCLOS III, Informal Single Negotiating Text, Official Records 137, 168, UN Doc. A/Conf.62WP.8/Part 11 (1975).

  48. 48.

    Art. 87 UNCLOS.

  49. 49.

    See Melgar (Ch.1, note 2), 171.

  50. 50.

    Art. 18(1) UNCLOS.

  51. 51.

    Arts 124, 125, 126 & 131. The equal treatment to vessels flying the flag of landlocked States put an end to traditional understanding of nationality of vessels through port of registration. Previously, since landlocked States did not have any ports under whose names they could register their vessels, their flag flying over their vessels could not present their nationality to coastal States and, therefore, vessels belonging to landlocked States were not allowed to fly flag from these States. See Donald and Stephen (2016), p. 214.

  52. 52.

    Art. 125(2) UNCLOS.

  53. 53.

    See Herrmann et al. (2015), pp. 48–49.

  54. 54.

    ECOSOC, Preparatory Committee of International Conference on Trade and Development, Committee II, Report of the Technical Sub-Committee, UN Doc. E/PC/T/C. II/54/Rev/1, 7–8 (1946); see also Analytical Index of the GATT, Article XXIX, 996–998, https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/ai17_e/gatt1994_art29_gatt47.pdf; Uprety (1994), pp. 42–45.

  55. 55.

    See generally UNCTE, Final Act and Related Documents, (note 15. For list of all GATT documents and its preparatory committees see also the WTO webpages, https://docs.wto.org/gattdocs/q/1946_50.htm & https://docs.wto.org/gattdocs/q/1946_50.htm; for literature review see for example Neumann (1970), pp. 63–78.

  56. 56.

    See Analytical Index of the GATT, Article XXIX (note 54).

  57. 57.

    For more information on differences between Article 33 of the Havana Charter and Article V GATT see UNECAFE, Problems of Trade of Landlocked Countries in Asia and the Far East, Report by Secretariat, UN Doc. ECAFE/I & T/Sub.4/2 (1956), paras. 6–16.

  58. 58.

    WTO, Glossary of Terms (note3); see also WTO Secretariat, Speeding up Trade: Benefits and Challenges of Implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, World Trade Report (2015), 35.

  59. 59.

    See WTO, Ministerial Declaration of 14 November 2001 (Doha Declaration), WT/MIN/(01)/DEC/1, 41 I.L.M. 746 (Nov. 20, 2001); WTO General Council Decision, WT/L/579 (Aug. 1, 2004); WTO, Ministerial Declaration of 7 December 2013 (Bali Declaration), WT/MIN/13/DEC/36 (Dec. 13, 2013); for literature review see Melgar, Ch.1 (note 2), 285; Serra Ayral, TBT and TFA Agreements: Leveraging Linkage to Reduce Trade Costs, WTO, Working Paper ERSD-2016-02 (June 2016), 4; Nora Neofeld, The Long and Widening Road: How WTO Members Finally Reached a Trade Facilitation Agreement, WTO, Working Paper ERSD-2014-06 (April 2014).

  60. 60.

    See WTO Website, https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/spra_e/spra157_e.htm.

  61. 61.

    WTO, General Council Decision on Doha Agenda Work Program, Annex D, WT/L/579 (2004), para. 2.

  62. 62.

    WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), Feb. 22, 2017, WT/L/940, section II.

  63. 63.

    WTO, Doha Agenda Work Program (note 61), para. 2.

  64. 64.

    WTO, Ministerial Declaration of 18 December 2005 (Hong Kong Declaration), WT/MIN/05/DEC (Dec. 18, 2005).

  65. 65.

    Negotiating Groupe on Trade Facilitation, WTO Negotiations on Trade Facilitation Compilation of Members’ Textual Proposals, TN/TF/W/43/Rev.19, part F-LDC Provisions (June 30, 2009); for TFA implementation challenges in developing and LDC countries see WTO Secretariat, Speeding up Trade (note 58), 108–132; for literature review see Melgar (Ch.1, note 2), 292–296.

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    Suhailah Akbari

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Akbari, S. (2021). Freedom of Transit of Landlocked Countries in Light of International Multilateral Agreements. In: The WTO Transit Regime for Landlocked Countries and its Impacts on Members’ Regional Transit Agreements. European Yearbook of International Economic Law(), vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73464-0_2

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