Kutner and Willensky write about the issues of Flags of Convenience and Franchising of Registries.

“In February of 2014, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law published a white paper that concluded that sovereign states have broad authority under international law to regulate GHG emissions from vessels within their registry. However, many registries are structured such that the flag state has limited connection to or exercises limited control over registered vessels. This paper delves further into the issue of flag state authority to regulate GHG emissions particularly with respect to franchised registries and flags of convenience”.