The prioritising of functional immunity criteria
In the course of establishing legitimate limitations and control over trade navigation in the open sea, the need to define the nature of vessel's activity is of utmost importance for the ascertainment of vessel's immunity. At the same time, today, the international legislator establishes two criteria of the commercial character of a deal: the "purpose" of the deal and the "nature of the deal", the latter being the crucial one. The author considers the theoretical aspects of the priority of "purpose" criterion for the ascertainment of the non-commercial character of the vessel's activity in the framework of functional immunity concept.