Rome, 8 Jul. (LaPresse) – A judgment that represents an important clarification on the balance between safety, legality and human rights in rescue operations at sea, reaffirming the central role of constitutional and international law in protecting the life and dignity of every person is represented by Judgment No. 101 filed today. The Constitutional Court has ruled on important questions of legality raised by the Ordinary Court of Brindisi, concerning article 1, paragraph 2-sexies, of the decree-law of 21 October 2020, No. 130, in the part where it regulates the administrative detention of ships involved in rescue operations at sea. The Pugliese court had raised doubts as to the conformity of the legislation with the principle of determination enshrined in art. 25 of the Constitution and compliance with international obligations, in particular those arising from the Hamburg SEA Convention and the constitutional principles of solidarity and protection of human rights. The Court first of all recognised the punitive nature of the detention of the vessel, as a sanction measure which has a significant impact on the activities of the organisations concerned. However, he stated that the issues raised were unfounded, noting that the rule is sufficiently clear and clearly delimits the boundaries between lawful and unlawful conduct. According to the constitutional courts, the law guarantees the recognizability of the precept by avoiding margin of discretion on the part of the judge. With regard to the relationship with international law, the Court affirmed that national regulation is fully in line with the system of international cooperation for search and rescue at sea provided for by the SAR Convention.