The difference between the type of law that is implemented, influences the degree of rigidness. A soft law is comparable with an agreement, as such it is used when several parties share the same opinion, but it doesn’t necessarily forces you to follow this agreement. While, a hard law forces you to strictly follow the descisions made and written down.LXI To explain how the combination of both can lead to a binding agreement, I will use an example of soft law constructed within the Arctic Council, namely the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA)22. Because of the increased international interest paid to the Northwest Passage (NWP)23, the AMSA report, which is soft law, stressed the need for a Polar Code, a hard law. As a consequence, the Polar Code24 entered into force to deal with the possible increased traffic within NWP. This example explains a positive effect on the creation of a binding agreement through soft law. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Some of the reports don’t lead to actions; this is due to the way various groups -scientists, media, law, politics- relate to each other. Only if these groups work together on every level, it is possible to construct a binding law.LXII
22 The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment was approves at the 2009 Ministrial meeting in Tromsø. The focus of the AMSA is marine safety and marine environmental protection, which is consistent with the Arctic Council’s mandates of environmental protection and sustainable development. Based on the findings of the AMSA, recommendations were developed to provide a guide for future action by the Arctic Council, Arctic states and many others. The report was conductued by the Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) working group, under the guidance of Canada, Finland and the United States as lead countries and in collaboration with the Emergency Prevention.CV 23 The NWP is the name given to the various marine routes between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the northern coast of North America that span the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.CVI 24 IMO’s International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) is mandatory under both the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). The Polar Code covers the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training, search and rescue and environmental protection matters relevant to ships operating in the inhospitable waters surrounding the two poles. The Polar Code entered into force on 1 January 2017.CVII
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