THE LAW OF THE SEA

Sources of the Law of the Sea Q: WHAT IS A BASELINE?

1. Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 A: It is the low-water line along the coast as marked on
(UNCLOS or LOS) large scale charts officially recognized by the coastal State.
2. RA No. 3046, amended by RA No. 5446 (Sec5, 182 LOS)
3. RA No. 9522
Q: WHAT IS A LOW-WATER MARK?
The Philippines signed the LOS on December 10, 1982, and
ratified it on August 5, 1984; however the LOS finally took A: it is the mean between the tides; the median between
effect only on Nov. 16, 1994. the low tide and high tide.

Importance of the sea:

a. Medium of communication
b. Contain vast natural resources

Extent of a state’s sovereignty over waters BASELINE MEASUREMENT

(Art2, of the LOS 1982):
a. Trace Parallel Method – by following or tracing
1. The sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyond the curvatures of the coast; applied to states with
its land territory and internal waters and, “smooth” coasts;
in the case of an archipelagic state, its archipelagic b. Straight Baseline Method – done by connecting
waters, to an adjacent belt of the sea, described as selected points on the coast without appreciable
the territorial sea. departure from the general shape of the coast;
2. This sovereignty extends to the air space over the applied to states with severely indented coasts or
territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil. archipelagic states; provided for by Sec7(1) LOS.
3. The sovereignty over the territorial sea is
exercised subject to this Convention and to other Limitations on the Straight Baseline Method,
rules of international law. Art47 LOS
The length of such baseline shall not
exceed 100 nmi, except that up to 3% of the total
number of the baseline enclosing any archipelago
TERRITORIAL SEA
may exceed that length, up to a maximum length
- It is the belt of sea outwards from the baseline and of 125 nmi. So the distance from point A to point B
up to 12 nmi beyond. must not exceed 100nmi
- If the application of the 12 nmi rule to neighboring
TRACE PARALLEL METHOD STRAIGHT BASELINE M.
littoral states would result in overlapping, the rule
now established is that the dividing line is a
median line or the “equidistance principle”, from
the opposite baselines.
- However, the equidistance principle does not
apply to historic title or special circumstances; in
these cases the equity principle in delineating will
apply.

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Q: WHAT IS TRANSIT PASSAGE?
A: a concept in Law of the Sea which allows for a vessel
and aircraft the exercise in accordance with UNCLOS the
freedom of navigation and overflight solely for the purpose
of continuous and expeditious transit.
The Right of Innocent Passage which is not prejudicial to
the peace, good order or security of the coastal state. It
applies only to sea navigation and not to overflight. It is
suspendable, but there must be a declaration.
Art19(2) LOS, enumerates acts that are not considered
innocent passage:
1. Any threat or use of force against the sovereignty
of the coastal state…
2. Any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind
3. Any act aimed at collecting information to the
prejudice of the defense or security of the coastal
state;
4. Any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the
defense or security of the coastal state
5. The launching, landing or taking on board any
aircraft
6. The launching, landing or taking on board any
military device
7. The loading and unloading of any commodity…
contrary to customs, fiscal, immigration, or
sanitary laws and regulations of the coastal state
8. Any act of willful and serious pollution contrary to
this Convention
9. Any fishing activities
10. The carrying out of research or survey activities
11. Any act aimed at interfering with any systems of
communication…
12. Any other activity not having direct bearing on
passage
 Under Art19, if a foreign vessel is just traversing
within the territorial sea, a state should not exercise
its criminal jurisdiction over foreign vessels in the
territorial sea except in certain specified situations;
Except:
1. The crime extends to the territorial coast
2. The crime disturbs the peace, good order, or
security of the state
3. To stop drug trafficking
4. The foreign ship requests assistance of local
authorities
 Under Art20, a state should not stop or divert foreign
ships for the purpose of exercising civil jurisdiction;
except when it came from internal waters and is
absconding, “hot pursuit” will apply.
CONTIGUOUS ZONE
- Is an area of water not exceeding 24 nmi from the
baseline. It thus extends 12 nmi from the edge of
the territorial sea.
- A state has control over these waters and could
continue to enforce laws in four specific areas:
pollution, taxation, customs, and immigration.
EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE
- It is the area extending not more than 200 nmi
beyond the baseline. The coastal state has
exclusive rights to explore and exploit the
economic resources of the sea, seabed, subsoil, but
such right does not affect the right of navigation
and overflight.
- The coastal state has two obligations:
a. No over-exploitation of the resources
b. Must maintain and restore the resources
c. Must promote optimum utilization of the
resources
CONTINENTAL SHELF
- Is the natural prolongation of the land territory to
the continental margin’s outer edge, or 200
nautical miles from the coastal state’s baseline,
whichever is greater. State’s continental shelf may
exceed 200 nautical miles until the natural
prolongation ends.
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DEEP SEABED
- The sea bed and ocean floor that is beyond any
national jurisdiction. It is res communes.
HIGH SEAS
- All parts of the sea that are not included in the
territorial sea or internal waters of a state, as
defined in Art1 of the Geneva Convention.
Six freedoms on the High Seas:
1. Freedom of navigation
2. Freedom of overflight
3. Freedom of fishing
4. Freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines
5. Freedom to construct artificial islands and
structures
6. Freedom of marine scientific research
Nos 3, 5, 6: Given to the coastal state, exclusive rights
INTERNAL WATERS
- All waters landwards from the baseline of the
territory. The coastal state is free to set laws,
regulate use, and use any resource. Foreign
vessels have no right of passage within internal
waters.
ARCHIPELAGIC WATERS
- By connecting the selected points to form the
baseline, all waters inside this baseline are
designated Archipelagic Waters. Subject to right of
innocent passage or right of archipelagic lanes
passage. This is more onerous for the state,
because it includes not only sea navigation but
also overflight.
Internal Waters vs. Archipelagic Waters
UNCLOS mentions “archipelagic waters”
1987 Constitutions mentions “internal waters”
As a general rule, when there is conflict between treaty
and Constitution:
Domestic level: Constitution prevails
International level: Treaty prevails
BAYS
- It is a well-marked indentation whose penetration
is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as
to contain land-locked waters and constitute more
than a mere curvature of the coast.
- Area of an indentation is that lying between the
low-water mark around the shore of the
indentation and a line joining the low-water mark
of its natural entrance points.
- Where the distance between the low-water marks
of the natural entrance points of a bay exceeds
24nmi, a straight baseline of 24nmi shall be drawn
within the bay.
ISLANDS
Q: WHAT IS AN ISLAND?
A: An island is a naturally formed area of land, surrounded
by water, which is above water at high tide.
An island which can sustain life can have its own
territorial sea, EEZ, and continental shelf.
An island which cannot sustain life will only have
territorial sea.
To own an island, it does not need to be included
within the baseline. A state can own an island through the
exercise of its apparent and continuous sovereignty over
the territory.
If an island is submerged during high tide, no
baseline can be drawn from that island.
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 Maritime Zones of a State
From State nautical With or without
Coast miles sovereignty
Territorial sea 12 nmi Absolute sovereignty
24 nmi -First 12 nmi:
absolute sovereignty (AS)
Contiguous zone
-Second 12 nmi: just
control
200 nmi -12nmi: territorial sea; AS
Exclusive
-188nmi: high seas;
Economic zone
exclusive rights
200 nmi; -200 nmi: ab. sovereignty
Continental Extended: - 150 nmi: must be
Shelf +150nmi claimed because it’s not
inherent

Q: HOW MANY BASEPOINTS DOES THE PHILIPPINES

HAVE?

A: Previously in RA No. 5446 it was 81 base points, but as

amended by RA 9522, presently there are 101 base points.

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