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The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is the global treaty dividing the oceans into maritime zones and fixing each coastal state's rights within them.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, commonly called UNCLOS, is the comprehensive international treaty governing the use of the world's oceans. It was opened for signature at Montego Bay in Jamaica on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994, a year after the sixtieth state ratified it. Its central achievement is to divide the sea into a series of zones measured outward from a coastal state's baseline — internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf and the high seas — and to specify exactly what rights and duties a state has in each. It also created the institutional machinery to administer the regime, including the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Type: TreatyBaseline — the low-water line along the coast from which every maritime zone is measured; get the baseline wrong and every zone shifts
Territorial sea — extends up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline, and here the coastal state exercises sovereignty
Contiguous zone — extends up to 24 nautical miles from the baseline, where the state may enforce customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary laws
Exclusive Economic Zone — extends up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline, giving the coastal state sovereign rights over living and non-living resources but not full sovereignty
Continental shelf — the seabed and subsoil beyond the territorial sea, whose outer limit shall not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baseline
High seas — all sea areas beyond national jurisdiction, open to all states and not capable of appropriation by any
The Area — the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction, whose mineral resources are designated the common heritage of humankind
Frequency: UNCLOS and its maritime zones are among the most frequently repeated international-law topics in UPSC Prelims
| Aspect | Territorial Sea | Exclusive Economic Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Limit from baseline | Up to 12 nautical miles | Up to 200 nautical miles |
| Nature of the coastal state's power | Sovereignty | Sovereign rights over resources, not full sovereignty |
| Coverage | Water column, seabed, subsoil and airspace above | Living and non-living resources of the water column, seabed and subsoil |
| Rights of other states | Right of innocent passage for foreign ships | Freedoms of navigation, overflight and laying of submarine cables and pipelines |
UNCLOS does not draw the ocean's divisions from the water's edge as it happens to be on any given day. It fixes a legal reference line — the baseline, normally the low-water line along the coast — and measures every zone outward from it. This matters because the limits are cumulative from the same origin rather than stacked on one another: the contiguous zone reaches 24 nautical miles from the baseline, which means it overlaps the outer 12 nautical miles of the EEZ and begins where the territorial sea ends, rather than extending 24 miles beyond the territorial sea. The same logic explains why the strength of a state's rights weakens with distance. Close in, within the territorial sea, the state has sovereignty subject only to innocent passage. Further out, in the EEZ, it holds sovereign rights over resources while other states keep the freedoms of navigation and overflight. Beyond that lie the high seas and the Area, which belong to no state at all.
Think of concentric rings drawn from a single point on a map: the ring you are in decides how much control the coastal state has, and every ring is measured from the same centre.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
Adjudicates disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of UNCLOS
International Seabed Authority (ISA)
Trustee of the mineral resources of the deep seabed, which UNCLOS designates the common heritage of humankind; regulates exploration and exploitation in the Area
Almost every maritime dispute in the news is argued in the vocabulary UNCLOS supplies. Whether the question is fishing rights, seabed mining, the legality of a naval transit, or a claim over islands and the waters around them, the argument turns on where the baseline runs, which zone the activity falls in, and what rights that zone confers. For India, whose interests span a long coastline, a large exclusive economic zone, seaborne trade through chokepoints and a growing role in Indian Ocean security, the convention is the framework within which those interests are asserted and defended. It also underpins the environmental and resource questions of the coming decades, since the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction is administered as the common heritage of humankind rather than being open to first claimants.
UNCLOS opened for signature at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982
Entered into force on 16 November 1994, after the sixtieth ratification
All zones are measured from the baseline
Territorial sea: up to 12 nautical miles — sovereignty, subject to innocent passage
Contiguous zone: up to 24 nautical miles — customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary enforcement
Exclusive Economic Zone: up to 200 nautical miles — sovereign rights over resources
Continental shelf: outer limit not exceeding 350 nautical miles from the baseline
High seas: beyond national jurisdiction, open to all states
ITLOS is at Hamburg; the International Seabed Authority is at Kingston, Jamaica
The EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline, within which the coastal state has sovereign rights over living and non-living resources.
In the territorial sea, up to 12 nautical miles, the coastal state has sovereignty subject to innocent passage. In the EEZ, up to 200 nautical miles, it has sovereign rights over resources while other states retain freedoms such as navigation and overflight.
UNCLOS was opened for signature on 10 December 1982 at Montego Bay, Jamaica, and entered into force on 16 November 1994 after the sixtieth ratification.
ITLOS is based in Hamburg, Germany.
The outer limit of the continental shelf shall not exceed 350 nautical miles measured from the baseline.