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The Law of the Sea

In this paper I am going to give an overview of the Law of the
Sea with an emphasis on the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea in connection with the examples of innocent
passage and Exclusive Economic Zones. Further, I am going to
give a glimpse into the topics of the International Seabed
Authority, and the International Tribunal of the Law of the
Sea.

The law of the sea is a part of international law that deals
with breaches of the public law on the sea. A big part of the
law of the sea is codified in the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea, which was signed on December 10
th
in 1982.
The sometimes so called constitution of the sea has the main
task to define international law regarding ocean resources,
territorial waters and sea lanes.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Although the convention exists since December 10
th
1982, it
first came into force on November 16
th
1994, when 60 member
states ratified it. Today it has been ratified by around 150
countries all over the world. In the same year, on July 28
th
,
the Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the
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Convention was created. This agreement did not enter into
force immediately; it took exactly 2 years (from July 28
th

1994 to July 28
th
1996) until it entered into force. What also
should be mentioned is that these achievements would most
likely not exist, if there was not the Third United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea, which is the initial point
for all the following agreements. The conference took place in
New York in the Year 1979 and has as a direct outcome the 1982
convention. During those nine years, shutting back and forth
between New York and Geneva, representatives of more than 160
sovereign states sat down and discussed the issues, bargained,
and traded national rights and obligations in the course of
the marathon negotiations that produced the convention.
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The territorial sea of States consists of the waters
surrounding a States territory and including its bays, gulfs,
and straits.
2
The convention regulates for example the
sovereign territorial waters each country has at its deposal.
According to the convention, each country can call the maximum
of 22 kilometers beyond its coast as its own sovereign
territory. But although these 22 kilometers are part of a
countrys territory, there is the right of innocent passage
for foreign watercrafts.

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EBSCOhost: THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA
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Cassese p.84
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Innocent Passage
A passage is considered as innocent, as long as a vessel
abstains from performing any prohibited activities. Examples
for such forbidden actions are spying, smuggling, scientific
research, weapons testing, fishing and others. If territorial
waters are part of international navigation, these rights of
foreign shipping are prior to the rights of innocent passage,
which provide these ships with more rights.
The topic of passage was also a big point at the Third United
Nations Conference on the Sea, where it came to a conflict of
interest between naval powers and minor coastal states. The
naval powers wanted the straits to have the same legal
position as the international waters in order to have a free
passage through them. But the opposition dealt with the fact,
that the close passage of military vessel could mean danger
for the national security of these countries and make them
become contributors to any military action, so they disagreed
with that. There was a concept that straits were still
territorial seas, but granted free passage to warships under
the category of innocent passage, since innocent passage is a
by-word for peaceful behavior. Here again the naval powers
disagreed, because for fulfilling the criteria of innocent
passage they would need to show their flag on the vessel,
which would be a high risk in war times.
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In fact, the issue of passage through straits was one of the
early driving forces behind the Third United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea, when, in early 1967, the
United States and the Soviet Union proposed to other member
countries of the United Nations that an international
conference be held to deal specifically with the entangled
issues of straits, overflight, the width of the territorial
sea, and fisheries.
3

The solution to that problem was the establishing of the so
called transit passage; on this concept all parties were
willing to agree. At this concept the straits have an
international status and offer the right for foreign vehicles
to pass through them or overfly them.
Exclusive Economic Zone and other Sea Areas
In addition to the 22 kilometers of sovereign territory, every
country, that has access to the sea, has also an exclusive
economic zone. This zone bestrides 370 kilometers from the
coast. Within the EEZ a country enjoys a big number of
different rights, like using the area for generating energy,
controlling and monopoly use of fishery, further, perform, or
restrict scientific research or the building of artificial
islands. States are not only allowed to exert legal authority
within their territorial seas but they also have the right to

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EBSCOhost: THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA
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implement rights in an area up to 45 kilometers from their
shores. This has the aim to support the prevention of breaches
of the law and enhance executive authority.
With regard to the seabed beyond territorial waters, every
coastal country has exclusive rights to oil, gas, and other
resources in the seabed up to 200 nautical miles from shore or
to the outer edge of the continental margin, whichever is the
further, subject to an overall limit of 350 nautical miles
from the coast or 100 nautical miles beyond the 2500 meters
isobaths.
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States have all rights of using and exploiting
resources within their continental shelf. But that does not
apply to all living organisms outside a countrys EEZ.
This area is also known as the so called continental shelf,
which has in this context another meaning, than it has in
geological terms.
In case that two or more countries have overlapping Exclusive
Economic Zones or territorial waters, there has to be an
agreement, about where exactly the borderline is. An example
for such an agreement are the sea borders between Greece and
Turkey, although it was not always clear where exactly the
borders are, today there is no doubt about the borders
position. In most of the cases, but not necessarily in every
case, the borders position is made through equidistance. This

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Britannica Online Encyclopedia Law of the Sea
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means the border is exactly in the middle between the two
countries. In case this can not be achieved, or an agreement
can not be done, it is the job of the ICJ to define where the
borders are. Apart from the International Court of Justice,
also an arbitration tribunal can make such a decision.
The High Seas
The area which is outside of Exclusive Economic Zones, the
territorial waters or the continental shelf is called high
seas. This area basically does not belong to any country, and
the only law that applies there is international law. Both
the airspace and the sea itself, can be used by everyone
regardless nationality or other factors. All ships that are
on high sea territory are under the jurisdiction of their
countries. But there are some cases where a state may
exercise jurisdiction over the foreign ships:
It may approach, board, and visit foreign merchant ships
to ascertain their nationality, or to establish whether
they engage in (a) privacy, or (b) slave trading, or (c)
unauthorized broadcasting, or whether (d)the ship is
without nationality, or whether (e) though flying a
foreign flag or refusing to show its flag, the ship is
in reality of the same nationality as the warship.
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Cassese, p. 90, 91
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It may arrest and seize any ship engaging in piracy or
slave trading, and bring to trial the persons practicing
it.
6

It may pursue and seize a ship suspected of infringing
its laws in its internal waters, territorial sea, or
contiguous zone, or its laws relating to the exclusive
economic zone or continental shelf.
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Weaknesses of the Convention
The convention of 1982, is on one hand very detailed, but on
the other hand it is notoriously silent about certain topics.
For example it talks very extensive about the innocent passage
of territorial water bodies and provides us with a very
precise definition of a continental shelf. But there are also
other very important topics like environmental factors,
safety, fishery, etc, that are only overview wise covered in
the convention. In the above mentioned topics, as well as at
other topics which are not precisely elaborated, improvement
is strongly needed.



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Cassese, p. 91
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Cassese, p. 91
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The International Seabed Authority

The bed of the high seas is known as the International Seabed
Area, for which the 1982 convention established a separate
and detailed regime
8
. This regime was not agreed upon by many
states, so there had to be made the treaty of 1994. This
treaty had the aim to satisfy the countries which did not
accept the regime until then. What is also very significant
for the convention is its high amount of restrictions.
According to the treaty, there is now free access for
everyone to the resources under water. But in order to keep
control, the International Seabed Authority monitors the
exploitation of the submarine ground. The International
Seabed Authority work is bounded to any national
jurisdiction; its main work is the administration of
resources. It is also the ISA that gives out the permission
for professional extraction of minerals to companies or
individuals.





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The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
Another outcome of the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea is the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea. It
is located in Hamburg, a German seaport with a long naval
tradition. So the selection of this location has also
prestigious reasons. It is autonomous judicial body which
consists of 21 members, which are elected every nine years.
This election of the judges is done anonymously by a secret
ballot in order to avoid any accusation of unfairness or bias.
All candidates are written down on a list of nominees, which a
high amount of exclusivity, because article 2 of the statute
of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea requires
from all candidates the highest reputation for fairness and
integrity and a recognized competence in the field of the law
of the sea. While the judges are elected for a term of 9
years, the positions of the president and the vice president
of the Tribunal which are also held by two of the 21 judges
only have a duration of three years.
If the Tribunal or a chamber does not include a judge of the
nationality of a party to the dispute, that party may choose a
person to sit as a judge. Should there be several parties in
the same interest, they are considered for this purpose as one
party only
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The Tribunal has jurisdiction over any dispute

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Official Homepage of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Judges ad hoc
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concerning the interpretation or application of the
Convention, and over all matters specifically provided for in
any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on the
Tribunal
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.
Another important part of the Tribunal is its registry. The
registry performs several fundamental tasks at the Tribunal,
it has the responsibility for administration and coordination
of the whole Tribunal. Furthermore the registry is the main
communication medium from and to the Tribunal and has to
maintain the relationship between the Tribunal and 3
rd

parties, such as governments, individuals and the United
Nations in general.









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Official Homepage of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea The Tribunal
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Bibliography:

Cassese, Antonio: International Law Second Edition. Oxford
University Press
International Judical Monitor: Law of the Sea.
www.judicalmonitor.org/archive_0706/spotlight.htm
Johnson, Keith. GOP Scuttles Law-of-Sea Treaty. Wall Street
Journal Retireved 17 Julz 2012
LAW OF THE SEA CONVENTION AND LIVING RESOURCES. International
Debates Serial Online. September 2012
Official Website of the International Tribunal for the Law of
the Sea www.itlos.org
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
UN table of claims to maritime jurisdiction

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