Governance
The richness of institutions and bodies that are concerned with the Baltic Sea deserves legal scrutiny. Do the existing institutions offer the tools needed for an efficient governance of the Baltic Sea and is the division of responsibility between the various players sufficiently clear?
Environment
What is the normative status of the HELCOM rules, standards, action plans and guidelines, and how much discretion is there for States to decide on their implementation? What measures, and at what level, are needed to improve implementation and how can failures to meet the 
standards be enforced?
How does EU's increasing environmental regulation affect the Baltic Sea region and what are the legal implications of the environmental requirements that leave a large liberty for member states to set the targets and decide on how to meet them?
What are the implications of the increased focus on ecosystem-based regulation for the Baltic Sea?
Who is responsible for toxic chemical weapons, oil and other material dumped in the Baltic Sea during and after the World Wars?
Shipping
The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most heavily trafficked seas. In many fields, the rules of shipping are even more stringent in the Baltic Sea context than at the global level. How far can the regional requirements be applied on foreign ships and how should incompatibilities between the global and regional rules be resolved? How can the competitiveness of the region’s shipping be ensured by means of legal solutions by public and private actors?
New technological developments in the Baltic Sea, relating e.g. to traffic surveillance or unmanned ships, are raising new issues in terms of regulation as well as liability and compensation between different stakeholders.
Energy
How should the region’s incomplete regulatory framework for offshore installations, including renewable energy installations such as wind farms, be addressed? How shall the different interests relating to the uses be reconciled when it comes to planning, using and benefiting from such installations?
What is the division of responsibilities in case of failure or damages linked to transnational gas pipelines, such as the NordStream, or subsoil carbon storage?
Cultural heritage
The rights and duties with respect to the tens of thousands of historic shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea vary between States and depend on the age of the wreck and geographical location. Is there a need to fill the void with regard to common rules which take into account the specific climatic and other conditions that make the Baltic Sea such a favorable area for marine archaeology?
Fisheries
The revised EU common fisheries policy includes a number of legal innovations to bring fish catches back to sustainable levels and to phase out wasteful fishing practices. Will the reformed and increasingly regionalized EU fisheries policy prevent over-fishing in the Baltic Sea by 2020, in theory and in practice? Is it sufficiently clear in terms of division of powers and responsibilities between the EU and its Member States and what are the main challenges in terms of implementation and enforcement?
Borders and security
The maritime and seabed boundaries in the Baltic Sea are not fully settled yet and the precise rights and obligations in various areas are still subject to discussion. Apart from the technological development, new forms of military co-operation and alterations of security balance call for continued research on the legal aspects of the region’s security policy.