| Name |
Description |
Code value |
| contiguousZone |
A zone contiguous to a territorial sea of a coastal State, which may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
-- Description --
SOURCE IHO Dictionary,S-32, 5th Edition.
NOTE 1 The contiguous zone is adjacent to the territorial sea of a coastal State.
NOTE 2 In the contiguous zone a coastal State may exercise the control necessary to prevent and punish infringements of its customs, fiscal, immigration, or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea. See also Article 33 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. |
|
| continentalShelf |
A maritime zone beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea of a coastal State whose outer boundary is determined in accordance with Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
-- Description --
NOTE 1 The continental shelf is adjacent to the territorial sea of a coastal State. The continental shelf overlaps with the extent of contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone of a coastal State.
NOTE 2 Art. 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea:
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.
2. The continental shelf of a coastal State shall not extend beyond the limits provided for in paragraphs 4 to 6.
3. 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.
4. (a) For the purposes of this Convention, the coastal State shall establish the outer edge of the continental margin wherever the margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, by either:
(i) a line delineated in accordance with paragraph 7 by reference to the outermost fixed points at each of which the thickness of sedimentary rocks is at least 1 per cent of the shortest distance from such point to the foot of the continental slope; or
(ii) a line delineated in accordance with paragraph 7 by reference to fixed points not more than 60 nautical miles from the foot of the continental slope.
(b) In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the foot of the continental slope shall be determined as the point of maximum change in the gradient at its base.
5. The fixed points comprising the line of the outer limits of the continental shelf on the seabed, drawn in accordance with paragraph 4 (a)(i) and (ii), 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.
6. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 5, on submarine ridges, the outer limit of the continental shelf shall not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. This paragraph does not apply to submarine elevations that are natural components of the continental margin, such as its plateaux, rises, caps, banks and spurs.
7. The coastal State shall delineate the outer limits of its continental shelf, where that shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, by straight lines not exceeding 60 nautical miles in length, connecting fixed points, defined by coordinates of latitude and longitude.
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.
9. The coastal State shall deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations charts and relevant information, including geodetic data, permanently describing the outer limits of its continental shelf. The Secretary-General shall give due publicity thereto.
10. The provisions of this article are without prejudice to the question of delimitation of the continental shelf between States with opposite or adjacent coasts. |
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| exclusiveEconomicZone |
An area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea of a coastal State, subject to the specific legal regime 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 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea.
-- Description --
SOURCE Article 55 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
NOTE 1 The exclusive economic zone is adjacent to the territorial sea of a coastal State. Exclusive economic zone overlaps with the extent of contiguous zone of a coastal State.
NOTE 2 Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the coastal States are entitled to an exclusive economic zone extending no further than 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the Member State's territorial sea is measured.
NOTE 3 In contrast to the continental shelf, an exclusive economic zone must be explicitly proclaimed or installed by the coastal state and includes, besides the seabed and its subsoil, the waters super-adjacent to the seabed. |
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| internalWaters |
The waters on the landward side of the baselines of the territorial sea of the coastal State.
--Description--
SOURCE Article 5 of United Nations Convention of Law on the Sea.
NOTE 1 The internal waters is the zone between the shoreline and the baseline (see the Data Specification for "Sea Regions” INSPIRE theme). The delineation of the landward boundary of the internal waters is regulated differently in different countries.
NOTE 2 The internal waters can include waterways, mouths of the rivers and bays. |
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| territorialSea |
A belt of sea of a defined breadth not exceeding 12 nautical miles measured from the baselines determined in accordance to the United Nations Convention of Law on the Sea.
-- Description --
SOURCE IHO Dictionary, S-32, Fifth Edition.
NOTE The sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyond its land territory and internal waters and, in the case of an archipelagic State, its archipelagic waters, to an adjacent belt of sea, is described as the territorial sea. This sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil.
The sovereignty over the territorial sea is exercised subject to the United Nations Convention of Law on the Sea (UNCLOS) and to other rules of international law. |
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