For want of a better word, let’s call them cargo ships and let them work! The Sea Watch case and its three lessons on EU law

EU law does not regulate sea search and rescue operations carried out by private ships. However, it harmonises some aspects of the power that Member States may exercise as port States when inspecting and detaining ships stopping at their ports. What happens when an Italian court asks the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to interpret EU law obligations and their potential conflict with domestic detention orders that blocked, in Italian ports, two civilian rescue ships not considered fit for their (real) navigation purpose? In the Sea Watch case, the CJEU affirmed that EU law constrains Member States’ power to challenge navigation certificates issued by another Member State. The Court explained how EU law lends its teeth (primacy) to enforcing international law norms and, simultaneously, tames national obstructive practices, which may jeopardise international cooperation in areas not (yet) regulated by EU law.