Revision of the Convention Regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube

Regodić Aleksandra (Istraživač pripravnik, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu; doktorand na Pravnom fakultetu Univerziteta u Beogradu, Srbija), aleksr.ius@gmail.com

The paper follows the development of the principle of freedom of navigation on a multilateral level, primarily within the framework of the Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube, which emphasizes the interests of the riparian countries in the foreground. Bearing in mind that the Convention was adopted in circumstances significantly different from today’s, the question of the need for its revision legitimately arose. For this purpose, the Danube Commission, as a supervisory mechanism, established the Preparatory Committee for the diplomatic conference on the revision of the Belgrade Convention, focusing on: institutional and procedural issues of the Danube Commission, membership, the Commission’s decision-making process, language, and reform of the Secretariat. The goal of the research is to gain a better insight into the importance of the revision process, and provide certain guidelines and predictions regarding the further development of matters related to the necessary revision of the Convention, all by analyzing relevant historical segments and positive legal solutions contained in the Convention, taking into account the previous work on revision. This is a matter that is of particular importance for the Republic of Serbia as the depository of the Convention, but also for the entire Danube region and the strengthening of mutual cooperation. Likewise, the issue of membership, as one of the priorities, was brought up again, from a different angle, in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, which confirms the importance of this research. The hypothesis that will be confirmed in the paper is that the revision of the Convention is necessary to a certain extent, taking into account the changed circumstances that have occurred in the last couple of decades. Simply put, there is no international treaty that would be valid in its original form at all times and in all circumstances.

Keywords: principle of freedom of navigation, Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube, Danube Commission, revision of the Belgrade Convention, Preparatory Committee, International Treaties, Republic of Serbia