Nautical Law: What is UNCLOS?

What is UNCLOS?

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also known as the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, provides a legal framework for all maritime-related activities and regulates all ocean space, its uses and marine resources.

UNCLOS has provisions relating to the territorial sea, continental shelves, contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones, and high seas. These provisions ensure the prevention of disputes between nations over these issues, and in case a conflict arises, it can be solved based on these provisions.

It also has provisions to protect and preserve the marine environment for developing marine technology and scientific research. One of its most important parts concerns exploring and exploiting the seabed, ocean floor, and subsoil and their resources beyond the limit of national jurisdiction.

UNCLOS states that the area and its resources are the ‘common heritage of mankind’. The International Seabed Authority, founded by UNCLOS, oversees the area and its resources.

The UNCLOS defines the territorial sea as the 12-nautical mile area from the low-waterline along the coast. The coastal states’ sovereignty spans the territorial sea, seafloor, and subsoil.

Background of UNCLOS

Before the nautical law of UNCLOS came into force, there existed a school of thought known as freedom of the seas. This doctrine first came into operation in the 17^th century.

Under this law, no limits or boundaries were set for marine business and commercial activities. Over the years and centuries, a problem emerged as technology developed and the needs of people grew.

Overexploitation of marine resources was intensely felt in the mid-20th century, and many nations started feeling the need to protect their marine resources.

Starting with the United States in 1945, many countries brought the natural resources found on their oceans’ continental shelves under their jurisdiction.

Since the use of marine reserves rose in the 1960s and missile launch pads were also based in the oceanic bed, the need for a specific regulation to ensure the protection and jurisdiction of marine reserves was felt.

In 1967, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was convened. At this conference, the UN ambassador from Malta, Mr Arvid Pardo, requested a legal power that could bring about international governance over the oceanic floor and bed.

UNCLOS resulted from the 3rd UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place between 1973 and 1982. It replaced four treaties of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas.

UNCLOS came into force in 1994 as an international law of the sea. It defines maritime zones and has many provisions regulating and controlling nations’ functions and claims on the world’s oceans and seas.

In 2023, an agreement was reached to add a High Seas Treaty to the convention for protecting marine life in international waters. This treaty would include measures like establishing marine protected areas and assessing maritime activities’ environmental impact.

Important Regulations Under UNCLOS

Article 56 of UNCLOS defines parameters for establishing a nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles from its coastline. The article offers sovereign rights for exploration, conservation, resource exploitation and resource management of living and non-living natural resources.

Article 76 is crucial as it defines a country’s continental shelf as the seabed and subsoil of its submarine regions that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural spread of the land topography to the outer limits of the continental shelf or 200 nautical miles. However, these parameters have given rise to disputes in semi-enclosed regions.

UNCLOS also outlines the duties and responsibilities of Flag States. Some countries that exercised this power were Argentina, Canada, Indonesia, Chile, Peru, Norway, Ecuador, and even Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Venezuela.

An important fact is that UNCLOS does not handle territorial disputes or sovereignty issues since it is governed by international law on the acquisition and loss of territory.

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 14 focuses on the conservation and sustainable usage of oceans and marine resources, as per the legal framework of UNCLOS.

Such a legal power also ensures no problems between various countries over marine resources.

In a significant way, UNCLOS III paved the way for the now-existing maritime law.

The features and highlights of the same can be explained as follows:

• UNCLOS, as the currently prevailing law of the sea, is ultimately binding.

• Even though the nautical law’s name suggests a United Nations involvement, the UN has no major functional role in UNCLOS’s operations.

• There are 17 parts, 320 articles and nine annexes to UNCLOS.

• The sea law provides full money rights to nations for a 200-mile zone by their shoreline. The sea and oceanic bed extending this area is regarded as an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and any country can use these waters for its economic utilisation.

• The IMO (International Maritime Organization) plays a vital role in UNCLOS’s operation. Along with the IMO, organisations like the International Whaling Commission and the International Seabed Authority are essential parties in the functional areas of nautical law.

As of May 2023, 168 countries and the European Union are members of UNCLOS. The US has still not sanctioned (ratified) nautical law.

The main reason for the US not approving sea law is its disagreement about Part XI of UNCLOS, which deals with the minerals found on the seabed in the EEZ.

The International Seabed Authority was established based on this part of nautical law and called for equitable distribution of the proceeds of such seabeds.

The US is opposed to this theory, which is why it has not ratified UNCLOS despite being one of the most important members of the United Nations.

UNCLOS also contains specific provisions for protecting the marine environment and preventing pollution from the marine environment, the world’s oceans, and high seas by pollutants and practices like overfishing or deep seabed mining.

It also mentions the freedom of the high seas, especially the freedom of scientific research and easy passage of merchant vessels.

A maritime law like UNCLOS can help protect and safeguard marine resources, especially in contemporary times, when the need for their protection increased even more during the 1960s and 1970s.

Role of UNCLOS

The importance and need of UNCLOS can be gauged from its laying down and codifying the principles and standards of international maritime law based on centuries of maritime issues, disputes, and experience. These principles and standards are also mentioned in the U.N. Charter and international maritime laws, such as the 1958 Geneva Conventions. Many of the earlier UNCLOS regulations have been expanded in recent years to implement them more effectively.

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• What are the Flag States in the Shipping Industry, And What’s Their Role?
• Why Nautical Mile and Knot Are The Units Used at Sea?
• Case Study: Criminalisation Of 87 Indian Seafarer In Indonesia, Rights Available But Denied

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About Author

Raunek Kantharia is a marine engineer turned maritime writer and entrepreneur. After a brief stint at the sea, he founded Marine Insight in 2010. Apart from managing Marine Insight, he also writes for a number of maritime magazines and websites.

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