What is the legal content of internal waters and territorial waters under the International Law of the Sea?
The 1982 International Convention is a Constitution on seas and oceans when it introduces the concept of baselines used to calculate the breadth of territorial waters, according to which the sea areas under national jurisdiction include: internal waters, territorial waters, contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves.
+ Internal waters: according to Article 8, paragraph 1, the 1982 Convention defines internal waters as "the waters on the landward side of the baselines used to measure the breadth of the territorial sea". In internal waters, a country exercises its sovereignty as on land territory. A country can have many internal waters with different legal regimes: internal waters, internal waters in which the right of innocent passage of ships is respected, and historical waters placed under the internal waters regime.
+ Territorial waters: for the first time, the territorial waters of countries have a unified width of 12 nautical miles (each nautical mile is equivalent to 1,850 m). Article 2 of the 1982 Convention defines: "The sovereignty of the coastal state extends beyond its land territory and internal waters to an area of sea adjacent thereto, called the territorial sea, the breadth of which does not exceed 12 nautical miles". The sovereignty of the coastal state over territorial waters is not as absolute as over internal waters. Passage is considered innocent as long as this passage does not prejudice the peace, security, good order or the interests of the coastal state. Article 19 of the 1982 Convention provides a specific list of activities that foreign ships are not allowed to conduct in the territorial waters of the coastal state when exercising the right of passage:
- Any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of the coastal State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations.
- Practice or drill with any type of weapon.
- Collecting intelligence to cause damage or propagandizing to harm the defense or security of coastal states.
- Launching, receiving or loading aircraft; launching, receiving or loading military vehicles.
- Loading or unloading goods, money or embarking or disembarking persons contrary to the customs, fiscal, sanitary or immigration laws and regulations of the coastal State.
- Deliberate and serious pollution, breach of convention; fishing; research or surveying.
- Disruption of any systems of communication or of any other facilities or structures of the coastal State; any other activity not directly connected with passage....
Foreign vessels exercising the right of innocent passage in territorial waters must comply with the laws of the coastal State on the above issues (continued).
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