Marine environment as a subject matter of criminal offence

The relevance of the topic was determined by the need to increase the effectiveness of the criminal law protection of the marine environment from pollution. The purpose of the study was to develop a scientifically substantiated approach to interpreting the content of the subject matter of the criminal offence as a constructive element of the corpus delicti provided for in Art. 243 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Achieving this goal was made possible through the use of a complex of scientific cognition methods: hermeneutic, formal logical, systemic and structural, comparative legal, etc. It was established that the first form of the criminal offence under Part 1 of Art. 243 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was constructed as a single delict with derivative consequences, characterised by several direct objects and subjects matter of the offence. It was substantiated that marine pollution is a conventional crime; therefore, the provisions of relevant international legal agreements to which Ukraine is a party, rather than national legislation, should take precedence in interpreting its constructive elements. The position that the subject matter of marine pollution (Art. 243 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) is the marine environment was supported, and its components were identified as marine waters, the seabed, subsoil, and the coast. It was proposed that the sea coast be understood as lands that are washed (periodically covered or flooded) by coastal sea waters. The conclusion was drawn that the living resources of the sea (marine organisms) are not part of the marine environment, but they should also be recognised as a subject matter of the investigated crime