The Law of the Sea Convention fixes a territorial sea of up to twelve nautical miles and a two-hundred-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone

Background

Disputes over offshore oil projects and seabed mining are argued today under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the globally recognised regime for all matters relating to the law of the sea.
The Convention was opened for signature on 10 December 1982 at Montego Bay, Jamaica, after more than 14 years of work involving more than 150 countries.
It entered into force on 16 November 1994, twelve months after the sixtieth instrument of ratification or accession was deposited.
Coastal States exercise sovereignty over a territorial sea whose breadth may not exceed 12 nautical miles, and foreign vessels enjoy innocent passage through those waters.
Ships and aircraft of all countries are allowed transit passage through straits used for international navigation.
Coastal States have sovereign rights in a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone over natural resources, while all other States keep freedom of navigation and overflight and the freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines there.
The continental shelf may extend at least 200 nautical miles, and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf recommends outer boundaries beyond that.
Disputes may be taken to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to the International Court of Justice or to arbitration, and the Tribunal has exclusive jurisdiction over deep seabed mining disputes.