The study to examine the legal competences of the EU was carried out by the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland.

As a basis serves the argument that despite the lack of an Arctic coastline, the EU already has legitimate legal competencies in the Arctic, based on the Lisbon Treaty, the EEA Agreement and international law. Therefore, the study focuses on EU-Arctic internal and external competences, the implications for Norway and Iceland as parties to the EEA Agreement as well as the role of the European Parliament on various Arctic policy fields. As as prime example serves the EU Regulation on the ban of placing of seal products on the EU internal market, being in force since August 2010.

The report is also referred to in the EU's "A sustainable EU policy for the High North" report.

The "EU competencies affecting the Arctic" report can be downloaded here.