In May 2015, several members of the Italian police serving in Venice demanded that the Police Command (Questura) of Venice include a monthly supplementary payment in their remuneration through the 'express' recognition of their qualifications as masters of ships (Comadante di Unità Navale per la navigazione costiera). However, the Questura of Venice through its silence substantially refused to recognise this status. The claimants brought their case before the Administrative Court of the Region of Veneto (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale per il Veneto), recalling, among others, arts 94.3, 94.4 and 94.5 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS).

Article 94.3 of UNCLOS reads as follows:

Every State shall take such measures for ships flying its flag as are necessary to ensure safety at sea with regard, inter alia, to:

(a) the construction, equipment and seaworthiness of ships;

(b) the manning of ships, labour conditions and the training of crews, taking into account the applicable international instruments;

(c) the use of signals, the maintenance of communications and the prevention of collisions.

Moreover, art 94.4 of UNCLOS establishes:

Such measures shall include those necessary to ensure:

(a) that each ship, before registration and thereafter at appropriate intervals, is surveyed by a qualified surveyor of ships, and has on board such charts, nautical publications and navigational equipment and instruments as are appropriate for the safe navigation of the ship;

(b) that each ship is in the charge of a master and officers who possess appropriate qualifications, in particular in seamanship, navigation, communications and marine engineering, and that the crew is appropriate in qualification and numbers for the type, size, machinery and equipment of the ship;

(c) that the master, officers and, to the extent appropriate, the crew are fully conversant with and required to observe the applicable international regulations concerning the safety of life at sea, the prevention of collisions, the prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution, and the maintenance of communications by radio.

Finally, by virtue of Article 94.5 of UNCLOS: 'In taking the measures called for in paragraphs 3 and 4 each State is required to conform to generally accepted international regulations, procedures and practices and to take any steps which may be necessary to secure their observance.'

The claimants concluded that either the Ministry of Internal Affairs was manifestly violating art 94.4 of UNCLOS by failing to ensure that each ship was overseen by qualified personnel through the designation of a master and a suitable crew; or the UNCLOS provisions were in fact being complied with by the Italian authorities. In the latter case, the monthly supplementary payment in the remuneration of the ship masters needed to be recognised.

Held: The claims are dismissed.

Article 94 is included within Pt VII of UNCLOS related to the regime of the high seas. Particularly, art 86 of UNCLOS which delimits the scope of Pt VII, provides that '[t]he provisions of this Part apply to all parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State, or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State’. As a result, art 94 of UNCLOS refers to maritime zones which do not fall within the assessment of the Court in this case.