On April 14, 2014, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its judgment [3] in The M/V Virginia G Case (Panama/Guinea-Bissau). ITLOS found that Guinea-Bissau had violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention) “by confiscating the M/V Virginia G and the gas oil on board” and “by failing to notify Panama, as the flag State, of the detention and arrest of the M/V Virginia G and subsequent actions taken against the vessel and its cargo.”

According to the press release [4], the authorities of Guinea-Bissau arrested the M/V Virginia G in August 2009 “for carrying out refuelling operations for foreign vessels fishing in Guinea-Bissau’s exclusive economic zone.” ITLOS found that “neither the boarding and inspection nor the arrest of the vessel violated . . . the Convention” but that “the confiscation of the vessel and the gas oil on board was not necessary either to sanction the violation committed or to deter the vessels or their operators from repeating this violation.”