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The Contiguous Zone

international law notes

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Chetana H
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27 views

The Contiguous Zone

international law notes

Uploaded by

Chetana H
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Contiguous Zone

UNCLOS sections the oceans, splitting marine areas into five main zones, each with a different
legal status: Internal Waters, Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
and the High Seas. It provides the backbone for offshore governance by coastal states and those
navigating the oceans. It not only zones coastal states’ offshore areas but provides specific
guidance for states’ rights and responsibilities in the five concentric zones.[4]

The Contiguous Zone is an intermediary zone between the territorial sea and the high seas
extending enforcement jurisdiction of the coastal state to a maximum of 24 nautical miles from
baselines for the purposes of preventing or punishing violations of customs, fiscal, immigration
or sanitary (and thus residual national security) legislation.

In the maritime security context, this can certainly include monitoring any activities which can
result in armed violence or weapons import into the state. Therefore the coastal state can take
measures to prevent or regulate armed maritime security activities out to 24 nautical miles under
the reasoning that it is undertaking customs enforcement operations to prevent movement of
arms into its waters/ports.[5]

The limit of the contiguous zone was provided in the Geneva Convention of 1958. It was to
extend 12 miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial zone is measured.
Thus, the concept of contiguoug zone is meaningless for the states which had claimed the
territorial sea upto twelve miles. They assimilated the limit of contiguo zone into territorial sea.
The limit of contiguous zone has been extended by the convention of 1982 which provided under
para2 of Article 33 that it may not extend beyond twenty-four nautical miles from the baselines
from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. Thus, the area of contiguous zoe would
be 12 nautical miles beyond the territorial sea.

Since UNCLOS has made the concept exclusive economic zones, the contiguous zone is no
longer described as being a part of the high seas. Since Article 33 is permissive, and since
indeed the contiguous zone is entirely in the area of the exclusive economic zone where such a
zone is claimed, it is perhaps doubtful whether a stateis required to formally claim or proclaim a
contiguous zone as precondition of the contiguous zone jurisdiction.[6]

India has claimed contiguous zone to the extent of twenty four nautical miles by enacting the
Maritime Zone Act 1976. Section 5 of the Act envisages that the contiguous zone of India ‘is an
area beyond and adjacent to the territorial waters’ and that the zone extends to a line which is
twenty four nautical miles of the coast. The above section also specifically recognized the
competence of the Central Government to exercise such powers and take such measures as it
may consider necessary, with respect to (a) the security of India, and (b) immigration, sanitation,
customs and other fiscal matters.[7]

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