The International Legal Protection of Submarine Cultural Heritage of the Mediterranean Sea in the Framework of the 2001 UNESCO Convention

The system of international legal protection of the cultural heritage in the common interest of the whole international community is now virtually completed by UNESCO, which has stimulated the negotiation and conclusion, by its member States, of several international conventions. These international instruments have been conceived in order to solve different problems related to heritage protection; the 2001 Paris Convention on underwater cultural heritage is peculiar because it has to solve the basic problem of a substantial lack of national jurisdiction – and consequently of regulation – on the underwater cultural properties beyond the limits of the territorial sea and, if established, of the archaeological zone. This is the reason why the 2001 Convention does not only settle an international compulsory standard for heritage protection, but has also to find a way to share regulatory and control responsibilities among the States Parties in a manner which ensures consistency with the overall framework of the international law of the sea, codified in the 1982 United Nations Montego Bay Convention. The solutions adopted in the 2001 Convention for the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf someway resemble the system of shared jurisdiction among coastal State, flag State and port State conceived in the Montego Bay Convention for environmental protection purposes, involving the State of origin of the property instead of the port State. This shared responsibility compromise solution has consented to find a common base for the adoption of the text. Hopefully, ratifications will follow in reasonable time. In the meantime, nothing prevents the conclusion of more specific regional conventions; the 2001 Paris Convention itself specifically foresees this possibility, in compliance with the framework regulation it provides. This is why the Mediterranean States have already begun to exchange views about a draft Convention for the Mediterranean basin, in order to establish even closer links between themselves, fully conscious of the special responsibility they share for the conservation of their common historical and cultural roots.