This dissertation is the first comprehensive study of the specifics of international legal regulation of transfrontier cooperation (based on the case of Ukraine) in the Ukrainian school of international law. The subject matter of the dissertation is relevant due to international cooperation between territorial communities and authorities that reside in different state jurisdictions but are located in geographically adjoining areas separated by a state border. Especially important for Ukrainian territorial communities and authorities is transfrontier cooperation between the territorial communities and authorities of the neighboring European Union member states (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania), since transfrontier cooperation is considered one of the most effective factors of European integration.
The dissertation generalizes and systematizes the specifics of international legal regulation of transfrontier cooperation in the Council of Europe, the European Union, the international case law of Ukraine and the current Ukrainian legislation. It argues that at a universal level, international legal regulation of transfrontier cooperation is virtually nonexistent and limited to recommendatory international instruments, which generally encourage the development of international cooperation between territorial communities and authorities. Consequently, the basis for international legal regulation of transfrontier cooperation for Ukraine rests on the corresponding international instruments of regional (European) nature, as well as bilateral international agreements with its neighboring countries.
The matter of transfrontier cooperation in Europe are regulated by legal instruments of two European international organizations, the Council of Europe and the European Union.
The main legal instruments regulating transfrontier cooperation in the Council of Europe are the 1980 European (Madrid) Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities, its three additional protocols of 1995, 1998, and 2009, and the 1985 European Charter of Local Self-Government. The above international agreements are international obligations for Ukraine, while the main national act for implementing the Outline Convention is the 2004 Law of Ukraine «On Trans-Frontier Cooperation».
For its part, the European Union has adopted a number of regulations on transfrontier cooperation, of which the most important ones are Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 of 5 July 2006 on a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and Regulation (EU) No 1302/2013 of 17 December 2013 amending the previous Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 as regards the clarification, simplification and improvement of the establishment and functioning of European groupings of territorial cooperation (EGTC). According to the National Program on Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to the Legislation of the European Union, Ukraine must recognize in its national legislation the non-legislative acts of the EU (including the abovementioned Regulations) that regulate transfrontier cooperation involving territorial communities or authorities of Ukraine.
It has been established that the European Union adopts its own binding legal instruments regarding transfrontier cooperation in the form of regulations of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, as well as implementing regulations of the European Commission. Recommendatory acts on transfrontier cooperation are adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the European Committee of the Regions, and one international non-governmental organization, the Assembly of European Regions.
The dissertation analyzes the meaning of the concept of «transfrontier cooperation» as used in the documents of the Council of Europe and the European Union. It concludes that the term «transfrontier cooperation,» used in the documents of the Council of Europe and in particular the 1980 European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities and its protocols, and the term «cross-border cooperation,» used in the documents of the European Union, have identical meaning, because these terms refer to the same international relations that arise at the local level between territorial communities provided they possess a common state frontier.
It is established that the term «transboundary,» used in universal and regional international agreements, does not refer to matters of transfrontier cooperation, since a) the implementers of these agreements are states, not territorial communities or authorities; and b) the subject matter of these agreements are interstate public relations, not relations at a local level.
