FEATURE
THE LEGAL STATUS AND APPLICABLE REGIME OF INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLES BY MARTA LAHUERTA ESCOLANO
INTRODUCTION
The submarine fiber optic cable networks are a true “bridge between people” and are part of the international infrastructures that are unique due to their technical nature, their vital importance for the economy and national security and their vulnerability. According to the International Telecommunications Union, a submarine communications cable is “a cable laid in the sea bed, or buried in shallow water, intended to carry communications”1. Submarine cables use fiber optics to transmit data at the speed of light. Just over 420 cables are buried in the depths of the world’s oceans and provide 99% of the world’s communications via telephone exchanges and Internet access2. Despite the successful installation of the first submarine cable in the 19th century, little is known about these infrastructures and several legal issues remain regarding their legal status and the regime governing their construction, installation and landing. 1
International Telecommunication Union, “Submarine Cable Regulation”, PowerPoint presentation, 2010, available online at: https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/finance/work-costtariffs/events/tariff-seminars/Dakar-10/PDF/cable_sous_marin.pdf 2 L’incroyable histoire des câbles sous-marins, des télégraphes à Internet, Les Echos, 7 October 2021.
A submarine cable crosses multiple environments: land or sea, on the one hand, and cyber or physical space, on the other. This heterogeneity of environments encountered by the submarine cable network is materialized by a dispersed legal framework3.
INTERNATIONAL LAW
The international nature of submarine cables, which often link several States (for example, the 2 AFRICA submarine cable extends over 45,000 km and is intended to link 33 countries), creates legal difficulties at many levels. In addition, to the question of the rights conferred and the obligations imposed on the suppliers, owners and installers of cables crossing several States, there is also the question of the protection of these critical infrastructures.
UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA
Most of the international law applicable to the laying of submarine cables comes from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay Convention of December 10, 1982). It incorporates and completes the 3 C amille Morel, L’Etat et le réseau mondial de câbles sous-marins de communication, PhD thesis in public law, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, defended on November 18, 2020.
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