Law of Sea

About this topic

The Law of the Sea governs every patch of ocean by asking the same set of questions. Once these questions are understood, almost any problem in the subject can be solved.

1. Rule: Who may rule this patch of sea?
2. Take: Who may take its resources?
3. Pass: Who may pass through it?
4. Referee: When States disagree, who is the referee?

Three problems test these questions. Their answers are worked out at the end of these notes, under "Solving the three problems".

Where the Law of the Sea sits

The Law of the Sea is a branch of public international law. It deals with States and their rights and duties over the oceans: navigation, fishing, seabed minerals and the marine environment. It must be kept apart from private disputes about ships and cargo.

Historical background

Free sea versus closed sea

Every modern rule grew out of an argument more than 400 years old.

• In 1603, the Dutch East India Company captured a Portuguese ship, the Santa Catarina, near Singapore.
• A young scholar, Hugo Grotius, wrote its legal defence. A chapter of it appeared in 1609 as Mare Liberum (the free sea). He argued that the ocean cannot be owned and must stay open to the trade of all.
• In 1635, the Englishman John Selden replied with Mare Clausum (the closed sea), arguing that the sea could be owned much like land.

The compromise: a thin belt of coastal waters

The world settled on a compromise. A coastal State controlled a thin belt of water next to its coast. In old practice this belt was linked to the range of a cannon fired from land, and it was later fixed at about 3 nautical miles. Beyond that belt, the sea was free.

Twentieth-century claims

The twentieth century broke this compromise open.

• Truman Proclamation (28 September 1945): treated the natural resources of the seabed and subsoil of the American continental shelf as belonging to the United States.
• Santiago Declaration (1952): Chile, Ecuador and Peru went much further and claimed exclusive sovereignty and jurisdiction over the sea along their coasts to a minimum distance of 200 nautical miles.

Technology and the idea of common heritage

Technology added fuel. Oil platforms moved into deeper water, and the deep ocean floor turned out to be scattered with potato-sized lumps called polymetallic nodules. These carry manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper, the metals that today go into batteries.

On 1 November 1967, Arvid Pardo, the Ambassador of Malta, proposed in the United Nations General Assembly that the seabed beyond national jurisdiction be treated as the common heritage of mankind. The phrase later became treaty law (Article 136 of UNCLOS, discussed below).

The UN conferences and UNCLOS 1982

Three attempts to codify the law

Signature and entry into force

• The Convention was opened for signature at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982.
• Article 308(1) (entry into force):

"This Convention shall enter into force twelve months after the date of deposit of the sixtieth instrument of ratification or accession."

• Guyana deposited the sixtieth instrument on 16 November 1993, so the Convention entered into force on 16 November 1994.
• Many industrialised States had stayed away because of the deep seabed mining rules in Part XI. To meet their objections, a separate Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI was adopted in July 1994.
• India ratified the Convention in 1995.
• Structure: 320 Articles in 17 Parts, and 9 Annexes.

Relationship with the 1958 Geneva Conventions

Article 311(1):

"This Convention shall prevail, as between States Parties, over the Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea of 29 April 1958."

Measuring the zones: the baseline

Every maritime zone is measured like a tape whose zero mark is pinned to one line on the coast. That line is the baseline. The unit on the tape is the nautical mile, which equals 1,852 metres.

Normal baseline (Article 5)

"Except where otherwise provided in this Convention, the normal baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal State."

So the zero mark sits where the sea stands at low tide.

Straight baselines (Article 7)

Where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or has a fringe of islands in its immediate vicinity, Article 7 allows straight baselines joining appropriate points. The measuring tape then need not follow every twist of the shore.

Who may rule? Sovereignty and control

Internal waters

On the landward side of the baseline lie internal waters, such as ports and harbours. Article 8(1) provides that, except as provided in Part IV (archipelagic States):

"waters on the landward side of the baseline of the territorial sea form part of the internal waters of the State."

In internal waters, the coastal State rules as completely as it does on land.

Territorial sea

Breadth (Article 3):

"Every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with this Convention."

What the State receives (Article 2): the coastal State's sovereignty extends to this belt of sea.

• Article 2(2): "This sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil."
• Article 2(3): "The sovereignty over the territorial sea is exercised subject to this Convention and to other rules of international law."

Indian law: the 1976 Act

India wrote these limits into its own law even before the Convention was signed, through the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976.

• Section 3(1): "The sovereignty of India extends and has always extended to the territorial waters of India ... and to the seabed and subsoil underlying, and the airspace over, such waters."
• Section 3(2): the limit of the territorial waters is the line every point of which is 12 nautical miles from the nearest point of the appropriate baseline.
• Sections 3(3) and 3(4): the Central Government may alter that limit by notification, having regard to international law and State practice, but only after both Houses of Parliament pass resolutions approving it.

Contiguous zone

Beyond 12 nautical miles the coastal State no longer rules, but it keeps a narrow policing power.

Article 33(1):

"In a zone contiguous to its territorial sea, described as the contiguous zone, the coastal State may exercise the control necessary to: prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea; punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea."

Article 33(2):

"The contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured."

Analysis of Article 33

• Two verbs: prevent and punish.
• Four kinds of law only:
  1. Customs laws
  2. Fiscal laws (tax laws)
  3. Immigration laws
  4. Sanitary laws (laws protecting public health)
• Place of the wrong: the wrong must happen inside the territory or the territorial sea.
• Other laws, such as labour laws or election laws, cannot be enforced in the contiguous zone.

Indian law: Section 5(1) of the 1976 Act places India's contiguous zone at 24 nautical miles from the nearest point of the baseline, matching the Convention.

High seas: no sovereignty

Far out at sea, ruling stops completely. Article 89:

"No State may validly purport to subject any part of the high seas to its sovereignty."

Who may take? Rights over resources

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

Article 55 describes the EEZ as an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, governed by its own specific legal regime.

Article 57:

"The exclusive economic zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured."

Measuring the EEZ

• The tape is still pinned to the baseline, so the EEZ ends at 200 nautical miles from the baseline.
• The first 12 nautical miles are already the territorial sea, so the EEZ itself is 188 nautical miles wide.
• The contiguous zone (12 to 24 nautical miles) sits inside the first part of the EEZ. There the two regimes overlap: one for policing (contiguous zone) and one for resources (EEZ).

Rights of the coastal State in the EEZ (Article 56)

Article 56(1) gives the coastal State three things:

1. Sovereign rights "for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds".
2. Jurisdiction "as provided for in the relevant provisions of this Convention with regard to: the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures; marine scientific research; the protection and preservation of the marine environment".
3. "Other rights and duties provided for in this Convention."

The word superjacent simply means lying above.

Article 56(2) requires the coastal State to have due regard to the rights and duties of other States.

Sovereign rights are not sovereignty

Indian law: Section 7(1) of the 1976 Act sets the limit of India's EEZ at 200 nautical miles from the baseline.

Land-locked States (Article 69)

Land-locked States have the right to participate, on an equitable basis, in exploiting an appropriate part of the surplus of the living resources of the economic zones of coastal States in their own subregion or region.

Continental shelf

The geography

Land continues under the sea in this order:

1. Continental shelf: a shallow platform continuing from the land
2. Continental slope: the steeper drop
3. Continental rise: where the slope flattens
4. Deep ocean floor

The law borrows this picture but redraws it.

Legal definition (Article 76(1))

"The continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance."

Article 76(3) (the continental margin):

"The continental margin comprises the submerged prolongation of the land mass of the coastal State, and consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof."

Rights over the shelf (Article 77)

• The coastal State has sovereign rights for exploring the shelf and exploiting its natural resources.
• These rights are exclusive: if the coastal State does not explore or exploit the shelf, no one else may do so without its express consent.
• Article 77(3): "The rights of the coastal State over the continental shelf do not depend on occupation, effective or notional, or on any express proclamation." Shelf rights are inherent. Nobody has to plant anything to hold them.
• Article 77(4) defines the natural resources covered:

"The natural resources referred to in this Part consist of the mineral and other non-living resources of the seabed and subsoil together with living organisms belonging to sedentary species, that is to say, organisms which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or the subsoil."

Outer limits beyond 200 nautical miles (Article 76(5) and (6))

Article 76(5): the outer limit line

"either shall not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured or shall not exceed 100 nautical miles from the 2,500 metre isobath, which is a line connecting the depth of 2,500 metres."

So there are two alternative maximum limits:

1. 350 nautical miles from the baselines; or
2. 100 nautical miles from the 2,500 metre isobath (the line connecting the depth of 2,500 metres).

Article 76(6) adds a special cap: on submarine ridges, the outer limit cannot go beyond 350 nautical miles. This cap does not apply to natural parts of the margin such as plateaux, rises, caps, banks and spurs.

Procedure: the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (Article 76(8))

A State cannot draw its outer line on its own. Article 76(8):

"Information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured shall be submitted by the coastal State to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf set up under Annex II on the basis of equitable geographical representation. The Commission shall make recommendations to coastal States on matters related to the establishment of the outer limits of their continental shelf. The limits of the shelf established by a coastal State on the basis of these recommendations shall be final and binding."

• The coastal State submits information to the Commission.
• The Commission makes recommendations.
• Limits established by the coastal State on the basis of these recommendations are final and binding.
• Composition (Annex II): 21 members, who must be "experts in the field of geology, geophysics or hydrography", and who serve in their personal capacities.

The waters above the shelf (Article 78(1))

"The rights of the coastal State over the continental shelf do not affect the legal status of the superjacent waters or of the air space above those waters."

The Area: common heritage of mankind

Beyond every national shelf lies the Area: the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. This is where Pardo's idea became law.

• Article 136: "The Area and its resources are the common heritage of mankind."
• Article 137(1): "No State shall claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part of the Area or its resources, nor shall any State or natural or juridical person appropriate any part thereof. No such claim or exercise of sovereignty or sovereign rights nor such appropriation shall be recognized."
• Article 137(2) begins: "All rights in the resources of the Area are vested in mankind as a whole, on whose behalf the Authority shall act. These resources are not subject to alienation." Minerals actually recovered may be sold only under Part XI and the Authority's rules.
• Article 140: activities in the Area must be "carried out for the benefit of mankind as a whole, irrespective of the geographical location of States, whether coastal or land-locked", with particular consideration for the interests and needs of:
  • developing States; and
  • peoples who have not yet attained full independence or other self-governing status recognised by the United Nations.

International Seabed Authority

The manager of this common property is the International Seabed Authority, which has its seat in Jamaica. Article 157(1) describes it as:

"the organization through which States Parties shall, in accordance with this Part, organize and control activities in the Area, particularly with a view to administering the resources of the Area."

Who may pass? Rights of navigation

Innocent passage through the territorial sea

The phrase "subject to this Convention" in Article 2(3) unlocks the right of innocent passage. Article 17:

"Subject to this Convention, ships of all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea."

Meaning of passage (Article 18)

Article 18(1):

"Passage means navigation through the territorial sea for the purpose of: traversing that sea without entering internal waters or calling at a roadstead or port facility outside internal waters; or proceeding to or from internal waters or a call at such roadstead or port facility."

So passage covers two purposes:

1. Traversing the territorial sea without entering internal waters or calling at a roadstead or port facility outside internal waters; or
2. Proceeding to or from internal waters, or a call at such a roadstead or port facility.

Article 18(2):

"Passage shall be continuous and expeditious. However, passage includes stopping and anchoring, but only in so far as the same are incidental to ordinary navigation or are rendered necessary by force majeure or distress or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, ships or aircraft in danger or distress."

Put simply, the ship must keep moving unless one of these requires a stop:

• ordinary navigation (normal sailing);
• force majeure or distress (an emergency); or
• rendering assistance to persons, ships or aircraft in danger or distress (a rescue).

Meaning of innocent (Article 19)

Article 19(1):

"Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State. Such passage shall take place in conformity with this Convention and with other rules of international law."

Article 19(2) provides: "Passage of a foreign ship shall be considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State if in the territorial sea it engages in any of the following activities". It lists twelve activities:

1. "any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of the coastal State, or in any other manner in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations";
2. "any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind";
3. "any act aimed at collecting information to the prejudice of the defence or security of the coastal State";
4. "any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security of the coastal State";
5. "the launching, landing or taking on board of any aircraft";
6. "the launching, landing or taking on board of any military device";
7. "the loading or unloading of any commodity, currency or person contrary to the customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations of the coastal State";
8. "any act of wilful and serious pollution contrary to this Convention";
9. "any fishing activities";
10. "the carrying out of research or survey activities";
11. "any act aimed at interfering with any systems of communication or any other facilities or installations of the coastal State";
12. "any other activity not having a direct bearing on passage".

Submarines (Article 20)

"In the territorial sea, submarines and other underwater vehicles are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag."

Indian law on passage: Section 4 of the 1976 Act

• Section 4(1): "Without prejudice to the provisions of any other law for the time being in force, all foreign ships (other than warships including submarines and other underwater vehicles) shall enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial waters."
• Explanation: "For the purposes of this section, passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of India."
• Section 4(2): "Foreign warships including submarines and other underwater vehicles may enter or pass through the territorial waters after giving prior notice to the Central Government: Provided that submarines and other underwater vehicles shall navigate on the surface and show their flag while passing through such waters."
• Section 4(3): if the Central Government is satisfied that it is necessary in the interests of the peace, good order or security of India or any part of it, it may, by notification, suspend the entry of all or any class of foreign ships into specified areas of the territorial waters, either absolutely or with exceptions.

Navigation in the EEZ (Article 58)

Out in the EEZ, passage becomes freer still. Article 58(1):

"In the exclusive economic zone, all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy, subject to the relevant provisions of this Convention, the freedoms referred to in article 87 of navigation and overflight and of the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms, such as those associated with the operation of ships, aircraft and submarine cables and pipelines, and compatible with the other provisions of this Convention."

Freedoms of the high seas

Article 86 applies the high seas rules to all parts of the sea not included in:

• the EEZ,
• the territorial sea,
• the internal waters of a State, or
• the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State.

Article 87(1):

"The high seas are open to all States, whether coastal or land-locked. Freedom of the high seas is exercised under the conditions laid down by this Convention and by other rules of international law. It comprises, inter alia, both for coastal and land-locked States: freedom of navigation; freedom of overflight; freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines, subject to Part VI; freedom to construct artificial islands and other installations permitted under international law, subject to Part VI; freedom of fishing, subject to the conditions laid down in section 2; freedom of scientific research, subject to Parts VI and XIII."

The six listed freedoms:

1. Freedom of navigation
2. Freedom of overflight
3. Freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines (subject to Part VI)
4. Freedom to construct artificial islands and other installations permitted under international law (subject to Part VI)
5. Freedom of fishing (subject to the conditions in section 2)
6. Freedom of scientific research (subject to Parts VI and XIII)

• Article 87(2): these freedoms must be exercised with due regard for the interests of other States and for rights relating to activities in the Area.
• Article 88: "The high seas shall be reserved for peaceful purposes."

Grotius's free sea still lives, but with conditions.

Land-locked States: access to the sea

For land-locked States, the right to pass begins on land.

• Article 90: "Every State, whether coastal or land-locked, has the right to sail ships flying its flag on the high seas."
• Article 125(1): "Land-locked States shall have the right of access to and from the sea for the purpose of exercising the rights provided for in this Convention including those relating to the freedom of the high seas and the common heritage of mankind. To this end, land-locked States shall enjoy freedom of transit through the territory of transit States by all means of transport."
• Article 125(2): the terms of transit are left to agreements between the States concerned.

Passage at a glance

Who is the referee? Dispute settlement and institutions

Choice of forum (Article 287)

Article 287(1) allows a State, by written declaration, to choose one or more of four forums:

1. "the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea established in accordance with Annex VI";
2. "the International Court of Justice";
3. "an arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VII";
4. "a special arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VIII for one or more of the categories of disputes specified therein."

• Article 287(3): a State that has made no choice is deemed to have accepted arbitration under Annex VII.
• Article 287(5): if the two sides have not accepted the same forum, the dispute may go only to Annex VII arbitration, unless they agree otherwise.

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)

• Seat: Hamburg, Germany.
• Composition: 21 independent members.
• Article 21 of its Statute (Annex VI): "The jurisdiction of the Tribunal comprises all disputes and all applications submitted to it in accordance with this Convention and all matters specifically provided for in any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on the Tribunal."

Binding force of decisions (Article 296(1))

"Any decision rendered by a court or tribunal having jurisdiction under this section shall be final and shall be complied with by all the parties to the dispute."

The other institutions

The International Seabed Authority and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf complete the team. About the Commission, Article 9 of Annex II sets a vital limit:

"The actions of the Commission shall not prejudice matters relating to delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts."

Maritime zones at a glance

Applying the four questions: live disputes

Sir Creek (India and Pakistan): a question of ruling

Sir Creek is a tidal estuary about 96 kilometres long in the marshes of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, between India and the Sindh province of Pakistan. Its roots go back to a 1914 resolution of the Government of Bombay.

Why fight over a strip of marsh? Because of the measuring tape. Where the land boundary meets the sea affects the baselines, and the baselines decide the territorial sea, the EEZ and the continental shelf in the Arabian Sea.

The Arctic and the Lomonosov Ridge: a question of taking

On 2 August 2007, a Russian submersible went down about 4 kilometres beneath the North Pole and placed a titanium flag on the seabed. It made headlines, but legally it achieved nothing:

• Under Article 77, shelf rights do not depend on occupation.
• Under Article 76, a shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is fixed through the Commission's process, not with a flag.

The real contest is over the Lomonosov Ridge, an undersea ridge that crosses the Arctic Ocean.

• Russia, Denmark (through Greenland) and Canada have each told the Commission that the ridge is a natural prolongation of their own land. Their claims overlap, and each includes the seabed below the North Pole.
• The United States has not joined the Convention and regards the ridge as an oceanic ridge, which Article 76(3) keeps outside every continental margin.
• Since the Commission cannot settle boundaries between neighbours (Annex II, Article 9), these overlaps must finally be resolved by the States themselves.

The South China Sea: all four questions together

Background

• The South China Sea is bordered by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
• Main groups of features:
  • Paracel Islands: contested chiefly between China and Vietnam.
  • Spratly Islands: claimed in whole or in part by several States.
• China's claim: most of the sea through the so-called nine-dash line; it asserts historic rights to the resources inside it, and has turned several reefs into artificial islands.

Forum and jurisdiction

• The two States had not accepted a common forum, so the case went to an arbitral tribunal under Annex VII, the default rule of Article 287. The Permanent Court of Arbitration administered it.
• China had earlier made a declaration under Article 298 excluding, among other matters, maritime boundary delimitation from compulsory procedures. The Philippines therefore framed its case around entitlements to zones, not around boundaries or sovereignty over land.
• China refused to take part. It argued that the dispute was really about territorial sovereignty, which lies outside the Convention.
• The Philippines argued that the nine-dash line had no basis in the Convention and that the Spratly features could not generate large maritime zones.

The award (12 July 2016, unanimous)

1. Historic rights: China's claims to historic rights over resources, to the extent they went beyond the zones allowed by the Convention, had no legal basis, because the Convention had superseded them.
2. Status of features (Article 121):
   • Article 121(1): "An island is a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide."
   • Article 121(2): an island has the same zones as other land territory, except as provided in paragraph 3.
   • Article 121(3): "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf."
   The tribunal held that none of the Spratly features could generate an EEZ, because each was either a rock or a low-tide elevation. The status of a feature must be judged by its natural condition, not by what construction has made of it.
3. Violations: China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in its EEZ, had caused severe harm to the coral reef environment through its island building, and had aggravated the dispute.

The tribunal made clear that it was not ruling on sovereignty over land or drawing any boundary. China has rejected the award, but under Article 296 the parties must comply with it. It remains the leading statement that historic claims and concrete cannot rewrite the Convention's zones.

Solving the three problems

Problem 1: the survey ship off Odisha

At 8 nautical miles, the ship is within India's territorial sea. It is not in innocent passage, even though it keeps moving and fires no shot:

• Item 10 of Article 19(2) covers "the carrying out of research or survey activities".
• Mapping the seabed near India's coast may also amount to collecting information to the prejudice of India's defence or security (item 3).
• If it is a warship, India's Act (Section 4(2)) required prior notice to the Central Government before it entered at all.

Problem 2: the concrete island

The concrete island gets no EEZ. Article 60(8):

"Artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf."

As the South China Sea award confirmed, a feature's status depends on its natural condition. A reef that sinks under the tide does not become an island because someone builds on it.

Problem 3: the oil and the trawler

• The oil: the oil field at 250 nautical miles can belong to India's continental shelf, provided India fixes its outer limits on the basis of the Commission's recommendations. Those rights are inherent and exclusive.
• The trawler: it is fishing on the high seas, because Article 78 keeps the waters above the shelf in their own legal status, and freedom of fishing applies there, subject to the Convention's conditions.
• The tuna: tuna swims freely, so it is not a sedentary species under Article 77(4).
• Conclusion: India cannot chase the trawler away simply because the oil below is India's.

Quick revision

• Rule: complete in internal waters; complete but subject to innocent passage in the territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles; only policing for four kinds of law (customs, fiscal, immigration, sanitary) up to 24 nautical miles; none on the high seas.
• Take: sovereign rights over resources in the EEZ up to 200 nautical miles; over the shelf's seabed up to 350 nautical miles, or 100 nautical miles beyond the 2,500 metre depth line; common heritage of mankind in the Area beyond.
• Pass: innocent passage in the territorial sea, then freedom of navigation in the EEZ, then the full high seas freedoms, plus transit for land-locked States.
• Referee: ITLOS, the International Court of Justice or arbitration, with Annex VII arbitration as the default.
• Ask these four questions about any patch of ocean to solve almost any problem in this subject.