THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL REVIEW OF FOREIGN PRACTICES ON DRAWING BASELINES IN THE ARCTIC REGION

The authors describe foreign practices on drawing baselines in the Arctic region. They analyze some international customs related to such practices, pay special attention to the commentaries to articles concerning the law of the sea, adopted by the International Law Commission. Besides that, they compare the official positions by the foreign arctic states in relation to drawing baselines: Denmark (in relation to Greenland), Canada, Norway, Iceland as well as the USA. It is stated that the straight baselines drawn along the coastline of the Svalbard archipelago by Canada is rather distinctive. In conclusion, the authors propose the range of geographic, economic, international legal, and national legal factors which were taken into account by the mentioned arctic states in order to clarify the location of baselines along the coast of the Arctic Ocean.