Outline of UNCLOS
21. As indicated, the EEZ concept is part of a much larger structure,
a "comprehensive framework for contemporary uses of the
sea."[17] However it
is reasonably accurate to say that virtually all the various sections
of UNCLOS relate, more or less, to the EEZ. The EEZ is, in effect, the
hub of a wheel, with many spokes radiating out from it.
22. The EEZ section of UNCLOS is contained in Part V, entitled
"Exclusive Economic Zone". Its contents are a "package" of delicately
balanced compromises that emerged from almost fifteen years of
negotiations carried out first in the United Nations Seabed Committee
and then at UNCLOS III.[18]
Within the EEZ, that is all waters seaward of the territorial sea limits
to a distance of 200 nautical miles, all States continue to have a number
of high seas rights related to transit and
communication;[19] the
coastal State exercises, not sovereignty, but sovereign rights with regard
to all natural resources, and has the powers necessary for the exercise
of those rights and protection of the environment including the power
to arrrest vessels of other States when those vessels violate laws made
by the coastal State under the authority it has under the Convention.
23. Part V concentrates on living resources. It provides detailed rules
the coastal State must follow in providing for the conservation of these
resources, and in providing for access to these resources by vessels of
other States when the coastal State does not have the capacity to harvest
the levels of catch it has determined to be maximal within safe limits.
Specific regimes apply to different types of resources including stocks
that straddle EEZ limits and stocks that straddle marine boundary lines
between States, highly migratory species e.g. tuna, marine mammals,
anadromous species e.g. salmon, catadromous species e.g. eels, and
sedentary species e.g. scallops. Part V also contains provisions on rights
of access for landlocked and "geographically disadvantaged" States,
enforcement of coastal State laws, and delimitation of marine boundaries
between coastal States.
24. Apart from its EEZ section UNCLOS contains provisions, inter alia,
on:
a) the territorial sea, permitting all States to extend theirs to 12
nautical miles and establishing rules for delimitation and for the right
of innocent passage through it for the vessels of all other States;
b) straits used for international navigation, safeguarding essentially
the right of innocent passage through such straits affected by extensions
of territorial sea limits to 12 nautical miles;
c) the continental shelf, concerning delimitation, rights of the coastal
State and other States, and requirements for payments by coastal States
to the international community when exploitation takes place on their
continental shelves outside 200 nautical miles;
d) the high seas, codifying its freedoms and a large number of rules
governing uses of the high seas;
e) "The Area" i.e. the seabed outside coastal State jurisdiction, defining
it as the "common heritage of mankind" and providing for its governance
and exploitation;
f) "Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment" establishing
rules aimed at the prevention of pollution and establishing rights of
coastal States to legislate and take action to protect the waters within
their EEZ's; and
g) "Settlement of Disputes", providing generally for compulsory binding
systems of adjudication to deal with disputes that arise regarding the
interpretation and application of the Convention.
25. The Convention came into force in
1994,[20] following the
deposit of the 60 ratifications necessary for this purpose. As of the
date of this paper a number of major States, including Canada and the
U.S., are not yet party to the Convention; however, under customary
international law, many of the provisions of UNCLOS, including those
concerning the EEZ, apply to them.
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