In the contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone, what rights does a coastal state have?

+ Contiguous zone: The 1982 Convention stipulates that coastal states have the right to establish a contiguous zone, 24 nautical miles wide from the baseline used to measure the breadth of the territorial sea. In this zone, coastal states have the right to carry out necessary activities to:

- Prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea.

- Punish violations of the above laws and regulations occurring within its territory or territorial sea.

Unlike the 1958 Geneva Convention, Article 303 of the 1982 Convention extends the coastal State's authority over objects of historical and archaeological nature located on the seabed in the contiguous zone. In order to control the trade in such objects, the coastal State may consider that the removal of such objects from the seabed of the contiguous zone without its consent is a violation of the laws and regulations of the coastal State within its territory or territorial sea.

+ Exclusive economic zone: Article 55 of the 1982 Convention stipulates: "The exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in this part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of the Convention". In the exclusive economic zone, coastal states have:

- Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, 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.

- Jurisdiction in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention regarding: the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures; marine scientific research; the protection and preservation of the marine environment.

- Other rights and obligations as prescribed by the Convention.

In the exclusive economic zone of a coastal State, all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy, subject to the relevant provisions of the 1982 Convention, three freedoms: freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, and freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines. The Convention does not restrict the rights of other States to use the sea. In exercising its sovereign rights and jurisdiction, the coastal State respects the freedoms of other States. In return, other States, when exercising the freedoms of the high seas permitted to them in the exclusive economic zone, must respect the laws and regulations of the coastal State in these areas.

(continued)

Readers Room -st & gt