Law of the Sea
• Resources
• Transport
- Mineral Resources
- Navigation
- Oil
- Cables
- Gas
- Pipelines
- Fish
- Renewable Energies
• Environment
- Pollution
- Dumping
- Special Protected
Areas
Law of the Sea Conventions
• Law of the Sea Conventions, 1958
- Covention on the Territorial Sea and the
Contigious Zone
- Convention on the High Seas
- Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the
Living Resources of the High Seas
• United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982
Jurisdictional Zones in the Law of
the Sea
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Internal Waters
Territorial Sea
Contiguous Zone
Exclusive Economic Zone
Continental Shelf
High Seas
The International Seabed
Areas of the Continental Margin more
than 200 sm from the baselines
Constructing Baselines
• The Normal Rule
– ‚...the normal baseline for measuring the breadth of
the territorial sea is the low-water line along the coast
as shown by the appropriate symmbols on charts
officialy recognized by the coastal state‘ (LOSC Art. 5)
– General Rule: coastal stages exercise the greatest degree of
jurisdictional competence over those zones that lie closest to
them
• Straight Baselines
– Drawn not from the low water line but from a series of artificial
lines
Jurisdictional Zones II
• Internal Waters
– flows automatically from sovereignty exercised
over land territory
• Territorial Sea (up to 12 seamiles)
– full sovereignty except for rights of innocent
passage
• Contiguous Zone (up to 24 seamiles)
– territory outside the territorial sea where coastal
states may exercise the control necessary to
punish or prevent infringements of its customs,
fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulation
within its territory or territorial sea
Jurisdictional Zones III
• Exclusive Economic Zone/Continental Shelf
- Coastal States can establish a 200-nautical-mile
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)/a claim for a
continental shelf is not necessary
- The Coastal state have the right for the use of the
living and non-living natural resources, to use the
EEZ and the continental shelf for other economic
purposes and the right to construct, authorize and
regulate the construction of artificial islands and
certain installations and structures
- in EEZs , all states have freedom of navigation and
overflight , as well as freedom to lay submarine
cables and pipelines
Legal Definition of Continental
Shelf (based on Art. 76 LOSC)
• Continental Shelf extends to:
– 200 miles from the baselines or
– to the outer edge of the continental
margin … whichever is further
Exclusive Economic Zones
Fish
• Internal Waters/Territorial Sea:
Exclusive Rights for the Coast State
• Exclusive Economic Zone:
Special Management System (Art. 61/ Art. 62
LOSC)
Navigation
• Internal Waters
Exclusive Right of Coastal State to define rights
for navigation
• Territorial Sea
Right for innocent passage of foreign ships;
Passage is innocent so long as it is not
prejudicial to the peace, good order or security
of the coastal state (Art. 19 LOSC)
• Exclusive Economic Zone
freedom of navigation (Art. 58 (1), Art. 87 LOSC)
Oil/Gas/Mineral Resources
• Internal Waters/Territorial Sea:
Exclusive Rights for Exploitation
• Exclusive Economic Zone
Exclusive Rights for Exploitation
but: no right of exploitation if conflicting with
recognised sea lanes
Cables/Pipelines
• Internal Waters/Territorial Sea
Exclusive Jurisdiction of Coastal State
• Exclusive Economic Zone
all States enjoy freedom of laying submarine
cables and pipelines
but: delineation of the course of the laying of a
pipeline is subject of the consent of the
coastal state (Art. 79 (3) LOSC)
and coastal state may lay down conditions for
cables and pipelines entering its territorial sea
Renewable Energies (Installations)
• Internal Waters/Territorial Sea:
Exclusive Right of Coastal State to build installations and
artificial islands
• Exclusive Economic Zone
Exclusive Right of Coastal State to build Installations and
artificial islands for economic use (including renewable
resources) (Art. 60 LOSC)
but: right for other states to build installation necessary
for pipelines
and no right to build installations and artificial islands if
conflicting with recognised sea lanes
Islands and EEZ
“rocks which can not sustain human
habitation or economic life of their own
shall have no exclusive economic zone or
continental shelf”
(Art. 123 (3) LOSC)
Archipelago
• A State ‘constituted wholly by one or more
archipelagoes and other islands, where an
archipelago is itself defined as a group of
islands or parts of islands, and their
interconnection waters which are so
closely interconnected as to form, or to be
regarded as forming an intrinsic entity
Other conditions for an archipelago
• Must link main islands of the group
• Must follow general configuration of the island
grouping
• Most important: ratio of water to land within
the baselines must be not less than 1:1 and
not more than 9:1
• Examples:
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Philippines
Indonesia
Fiji
Japan
UK
Right of transit passage in straits
used for international navigation
• applies generally to all straits connecting high seas or
EEZs with other areas of high seas or EEZs which
are used for international navigation (Art. 37 LOSC)
• Ships shall
– proceed without delay
– refrain from any force or threat of force against
the coast state
– pass the strait in the normal mode of continuous
and expeditious transit (Art. 39 LOSC)
Galerie/Gallery
High Seas
• Waters beyond territorial sea which is free for
use by all
• Flag State jurisdiction
• Exceptions to the flag state jurisdiction
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Visit
Piracy
Hot pursuit
Broadcasting
Slavery
Drugs trafficking
Bay Area
Area of
semicircle
IF Bay area > Area of semi-cirlce
Then, it is a bay
Bays
• Two stage definition:
– Stage 1: distance between the ‘natural entrance
points’ of a bay is measured and a semi-circle is
drawn along a line of a that length. The area of the
semi-circle is then compared to the area of water
found landward. If the are of the semi-circle is
less than that of the area of water, than it is a bay.
– Stage 2: If the distance between the entrance
points is less than 24 miles, it may be drawn
between them. Otherwise, the closing line can be
drawn ‘within the bay in such a manner as to
enclose the maximum area of water that is
possible with a line of that length.