Humanitarian organizations for sea rescue have achieved partial success before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

On Monday, the judges in Luxembourg ruled on a dispute between the German aid organization Sea Watch and the Italian authorities, which have repeatedly detained Sea Watch rescue ships.

The ECJ has now made it clear that this is only permitted under strict conditions.

The state whose port an organization calls at may inspect such ships under certain circumstances.

However, he may only hold them if there are clear risks to safety, health or the environment.

Marlene Grunert

Editor in Politics.

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Thomas Jansen

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The two rescue ships Sea Watch 3 and 4 were detained in the summer of 2020 after several rescue operations in the ports of Palermo and Porto Empedocle.

Both fly the German flag, are registered in Germany and certified there as "general cargo/multipurpose".

The Italian port authorities checked the ships at the time and took the view that they were not certified for sea rescue.

In addition, Sea Watch took too many people on board.

Authorities also said there was a lack of proper equipment on board, especially plumbing.

Finally they anchored the ships.

Sea Watch, on the other hand, appealed to the Regional Administrative Court of Sicily, whose judges turned to the ECJ.

He has now made it clear that sea rescue must also comply with international law, such as the EU directive on port state control.

However, this must be interpreted in the light of international law, especially in the light of the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

Duty to save people in distress at sea

The international agreements standardize, among other things, the obligation to help people in distress at sea.

They also provide special rules for rescue operations.

People who are still on board a ship after such operations are exempt from controls under maritime law.

The number of people on board also does not justify a check, as the ECJ has now determined - not even if it is far above the permissible level.

Only after all people have been brought to safety and disembarked can the port state inspect the ship.

However, he must prove "concretely and in detail" that there are reliable indications of a danger, as stated in the communication from the Court of Justice.

If there would otherwise be a clear risk to safety, health or the environment, a ship may also be detained.

However, the fact that a ship has certificates other than those issued by the flag state is not sufficient for this.

In its decision, the ECJ draws attention once again to the principle of loyal cooperation under European law, in this case the port and flag states.

They are obliged to work together and coordinate.

Sea Watch sees “great success”

Sea Watch called the verdict a "great success".

According to a spokesman for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the court found the organization right on key points. From the sea rescuers' point of view, the situation has not improved after Salvini's resignation as interior minister.

During the tenure of his successor Lamorgese, even more rescue ships were arrested.

"Under Salvini it was very loud and political," under Lamorgese the blockade was continued "under a bureaucratic cloak," the spokesman continued.

"But nothing has changed in the practice of the blockade."

In his view, the inspections of the ships by the Italian port authorities were "politically motivated".

Both the frequency and the duration of the inspections speak in favor of this.

The federal government is now expected to adhere to the coalition agreement.

In it, she advocated better protection of human rights at the EU's external borders and a European sea rescue mission.

So far, there has been “no difference” in the way the traffic light coalition has dealt with this issue compared to the previous government, said the Sea Watch spokesman.