The Demise of Unauthorised Broadcasting from Ships in International Waters?
Twenty-five years ago when broadcasting from so-called "pirate" radio stations was at its height, it was estimated that in European waters alone, there were at least 11I 1 stations transmitting from ships and installations located outside territorial waters.' Despite the infringements of national laws2 and of international agreementS3 occa- sioned by these activities the operators shrewdly calculated that international law, in the form of the principle of freedom of the high seas, conferred on these stations virtual immunity from the threat of direct enforcement action by states.4 This strat- egy was achieved by registering the ship in a flag of convenience state and by using companies incorporated in states such as Liechtenstein and the Bahamas. In this way, the true identity of the owners of the ship and of the financial interests behind the stations was effectively concealed. As the literature of the time shows,? inter- national lawyers were by no means agreed on the validity of the interpretation of freedom of the seas on which the strategy rested. During this period there was only one recorded instance of direct action being taken against a ship engaged in unauth- orized broadcasting. In 1962 Danish police seized and searched the MV Lucky Star, registered in Gua- temala and owned by a company incorporated in Liechtenstein, while the 'ship was located four miles offshore in international waters. The Danish Foreign Office had previously advised that such action, taken under a Danish law prohibiting the establishment and operation of radio broadcasting stations on the open sea, was justifiable where the ship, as here, flew a flag of convenience.6 There was, signifi- cantly, no diplomatic intervention by other states on behalf of the non-Danish
402 403 interests involved.? According to some commentators the Danish action was of 8 "debatable international legal validity" . This single instance apart, European states affected by unauthorized offshore stations appear to have supported the UK Government's aversion to "strong-arm action"9 which it viewed as "running counter to the traditional British concept of the freedom of the seas."1° The UK Government was instrumental in persuading fellow Member States of the Council of Europe that the answer to the problem lay in concerted action taken within a framework of clearly established jurisdictional rules rather than by resort to innovatory extensions of criminal jurisdiction. This cautious approach is embodied in the European Agreement for the Prevention of Broadcasts Transmitted from States outside National Territories, opened for signa- ture on 22 January 1965." As of 1 December 1985, 16 states were parties to it. 12 Each Contracting Party undertakes to make punishable in accordance with its dom- estic law acts connected with the establishment, operation and facilitation of off- shore broadcasting stations, committed by persons subject to that Contracting Party's personal, quasi-territorial or territorial sovereignty.'3 By these means the stations, cut off from the nearest and most convenient source of equipment, sup- plies, transport and the all-important advertising revenue, would be dealt a rapid death-blow. One legal commentator, writing in 1975, judged that the European Agreement "has been remarkably successful", and added that the "pirate" stations "have almost-but not entirely-disappeared from the North Sea".14 Today that qualification still holds, although the developments outlined below suggest that the prospect of total elimination from European waters of unauthorised broadcasting stations is in sight. Recent developments 15
At the beginning of 1984, Radio Caroline, the sole survivor of the offshore "pirate" radio boom of the 1960s 16 was joined by a new station, Laser 558. Radio Caroline broadcasts in English from the MV Ross Revenge, a converted trawler. The vessel