Recognition of a water body as navigable and determination of the inland waterway class are carried out in Ukraine without sufficient legal support, although these actions are an important component of the functioning of the law governing water transport. Recognition of the level of navigability and class of inland waterway has positive legal, transport, economic, social and environmental consequences.

The purpose of the study is to summarise and analyse, for the first time in domestic law, certain provisions and norms of law and practice relating to the recognition of water bodies as navigable and the classification of waterways in the USA and the Netherlands in order to prepare recommendations on the possible application of foreign developments in Ukraine.

The main results of the study are an analysis of the tools and practices of recognising water bodies as navigable and classification of waterways in the United States and the Netherlands and drawing attention to them for use in domestic inland navigation.

The recognition of water bodies as navigable and the classification of waterways are powerful and dynamic tools for supporting and implementing policies and projects in this area.

Despite the significant differences between common and continental law combat the dubious expansion of private control over water bodies, the Ukrainian state can use the “navigability” tool, which has been tested in the United States, Implementation of the American doctrine of “navigability” opens up the possibility for domestic management of the legally restrict private impacts or using environmental movements and the legitimate interests of coastal landowners.

 When improving Ukrainian legislation on determining the navigability of water bodies and classifying of waterways, it is advisable to take into account the experience of the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States: by a special law (not a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers), change the list of waterways adding to the existing ones those that pass through canals and inland sea waters.

 By developing navigability criteria and improving the classification of waterways according to the standards outlined above, domestic shipping could accelerate integration into the EU transport network and prevent abuse of private rights to water bodies. This would help meet the ever-growing demand for the transport of goods and movement of people.

Bibliography

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Journal articles

3. Brady M E, ‘Defining “Navigability”: Balancing State-Court Flexibility and Private Rights in Waterways’ [2015] 36 Cardozo Law Review 1415.

4. Calderón-Rivera N, Bartusevičienė I, Balli F, ‘Barriers and solutions for sustainable development of inland waterway transport: A literature review’ [2024] 2 Transport Economics and Management 31–44.

5. Camp J, Nelson K, Philip C E, Moravec M, Scheffler D W, Johnson P, ‘Utilizing Agent-Based Modeling to Evaluate Operational Impacts of an Incident and Possible Alternatives on U.S. Waterways’ [2020] 2674(10) Transportation Research Record 951–962.

6. Farazi N P, Zou B, Sriraj P S, Dirks L, Lewis E, Manzanarez J P, ‘State-level performance measures and database development for inland waterway freight transportation: A US context and a case study’ [2022] 45(C) Research in Transportation Business & Management https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2022.100866

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Theses

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