UNCLOS

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Political Law Review

UNCLOS
International agreement which defined th
e limits of the territorial seas of nations a
nd the areas in which they could exploit
marine resources

Article 2. Legal status of the territorial sea, of the

air space over the territorial sea and of its bed an
d subsoil
1. The sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyo
nd its land territory and internal waters and, in t
he case of an archipelagic State, its archipelagic
waters, to an adjacent belt of sea, described as t
he territorial sea.
2. This sovereignty extends to the air space over th
e territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil.
3. The sovereignty over the territorial sea is exercis
ed subject to this Convention and to other rules
of international law.

Article 3. Breadth of the Territorial Sea

Every State has the right to establish the breadt
h of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding
12NM measured from baselines determined in
accordance with this Convention

Article 14. Combination of methods for d

etermining baselines
The coastal State may determine baseline
s in turn by any of the methods provided f
or in the foregoing articles to suit differen
t conditions.

Article 18(2). Meaning of Passag

e
1. Passage means navigation through the territorial sea for
the purpose of: (a) traversing that sea without entering i
nternal waters or calling at a roadstead or port facility o
utside internal waters; or (b) proceeding to or from inter
nal waters or a call at such roadstead or port facility.
2. 2. Passage shall be continuous and expeditious. Howeve
r, passage includes stopping and anchoring, but only in
so far as the same are incidental to ordinary navigation
or are rendered necessary by force majeure or distress
or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, s
hips or aircraft in danger or distress.

Article 19. Meaning of Innocent Passage

1. Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coasta
l State. Such passage shall take place in conformity with this Convention and with other rules of int
ernational law.
2. Passage of a foreign ship shall be considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order or security
of the coastal State if in the territorial sea it engages in any of the following activities:
(a) any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence
of the coastal State, or in any other manner in violation of the principles of international law embod
ied in the Charter of the United Nations;
(b) any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind;
(c) any act aimed at collecting information to the prejudice of the defence or security of the coastal
State;
(d) any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security of the coastal State;
(e) the launching, landing or taking on board of any aircraft;
(f) the launching, landing or taking on board of any military device;
(g) the loading or unloading of any commodity, currency or person contrary to the customs, fiscal, i
mmigration or sanitary laws and regulations of the coastal State;
(h) any act of wilful and serious pollution contrary to this Convention;
(i) any fishing activities;
(j) the carrying out of research or survey activities;
(k) any act aimed at interfering with any systems of communication or any other facilities or installa
tions of the coastal State;
(l) any other activity not having a direct bearing on passage.

Article 33. Contiguous Zone

1. In a zone contiguous to its territorial sea, described as the contigu
ous
zone, the coastal State may exercise the control necessary
to:
(a) prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary
laws
and regulations within its territory or territorial sea;
(b)punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed
within its territory or territorial sea.
2. The contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles fro
m the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measu
red.

Article 45(2). Laws and regulations of States

bordering straits relating to transit passage
2. Such laws and regulations shall not discri
minate in form or in fact among foreign shi
ps or in their application have the practical
effect of denying, hampering or impairing t
he right of transit passage as defined in this
section

Article 46(a). Use of Terms

"archipelagic State" means a State constit
uted wholly by one or more archipelagos
and may include other islands

Article 56. Rights, jurisdiction, and duties of

the coastal State in the exclusive economic
zone.
In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State has:

1.
(a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and
managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters s
uperjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard
to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone,
such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds;
(b) jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant provisions of this Convention wit
h regard to:
(i) the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures;
(ii) marine scientific research;
(iii) the protection and preservation of the marine environment;
(c) other rights and duties provided for in this Convention.
2. In exercising its rights and performing its duties under this Convention in the e
xclusive economic zone, the coastal State shall have due regard to the rights and
duties of other States and shall act in a manner compatible with the provisions of
this Convention.
3. The rights set out in this article with respect to the seabed and subsoil shall be

Article 57. Breadth of the exclusive economic zone

The exclusive economic zone shall not exte

nd beyond 200 nautical miles from the base
lines from which the breadth of the territori
al sea is measured

Article 91. Nationality of Ships

1. Every State shall fix the conditions for the gran
t of its nationality to ships, for the registration
of ships in its territory, and for the right to fly i
ts flag. Ships have the nationality of the State
whose flag they are entitled to fly. There must
exist a genuine link between the State and the
ship.
2. Every State shall issue to ships to which it has
granted the right to fly its flag documents to th
at effect.

Remedies
Article 279
States Parties shall settle any dispute between them concernin
g the interpretation or application of this Convention by peacef
ul means in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 3, of the Char
ter of the United Nations and, to this end, shall seek a solution
by the means indicated in Article 33, paragraph 1, of the Charte
r.

Article 280 Settlement of disputes by any peaceful means

chosen by the parties
Nothing in this Part impairs the right of any States Parties to ag
ree at any time to settle a dispute between them concerning th
e interpretation or application of this Convention by any peace
ful means of their own choice

Compulsory procedures entailing binding decision

s
Article 286
Application of procedures under this section Subject to
section 3, any dispute concerning the interpretation or
application of this Convention shall, where no settlem
ent has been reached by recourse to section 1, be sub
mitted at the request of any party to the dispute to the
court or tribunal having jurisdiction under this section
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
International Court of Justice
Arbitral/special arbitral tribunals constituted under UN
CLOS

Archipelagic waters vs. territorial sea vs. internal

waters

Archipelagic waters
Areas enclosed as internal waters by using the bas
eline method which had not been previously consi
dered as internal waters

Territorial sea
Adjacent belt of sea with a breadth of 12 nautical
miles measured from the baselines

Internal waters
All waters landwards from the baseline of the terri
tory

Contiguous Zone vs. Exclusive Economic Zo

ne
Contiguous zone
is a zone contiguous to the territorial sea and extends up
to twelve nautical miles from the territorial sea and over
which the coastal state may exercise control necessary to
prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or
sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territo
rial sea

EEZ
extends 200 nautical miles from the baseline. The EEZ is r
ecognized in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Alt
hough it is not part of the national territory, exclusive eco
nomic benefit is reserved for the country within the zone.

Flag State vs Flag of Convenienc

e
Flag state
means a ship has the nationality of the flag of
the state it flies, but there must be a genuine
link between the state and the ship.

Flag of convenience
refers to a state with which a vessel is registe
red for various reasons such as low or non-ex
istent taxation or low operating costs althoug
h the ship has no genuine link with the state.

Magallona vs Ermita
Facts:
In 1961, Congress passed R.A. 3046 demarcating the maritime bas
elines of the Philippines as an Archepelagic State pursuant to UNC
LOS I of 9158, codifying the sovereignty of State parties over their
territorial sea. Then in 1968, it was amended by R.A. 5446, correcti
ng some errors in R.A. 3046 reserving the drawing of baselines ar
ound Sabah.
In 2009, it was again amended by R.A. 9522, to be compliant with t
he UNCLOS III of 1984. The requirements complied with are: to sh
orten one baseline, to optimize the location of some basepoints a
nd classify KIG and Scarborough Shoal as regime of islands.

Magallona vs Ermita
Issue:
Whether R.A. 9522 is constitutional?
Petitioner argues the ff:
1. it reduces the Philippine maritime territory under Article
1
2. it opens the countrys waters to innocent and sea lanes p
assages hence undermining our sovereignty and security
3. treating KIG and Scarborough as regime of islands woul
d weaken our claim over those territories.

Magallona vs Ermita
1. UNCLOS III has nothing to do with acquisition or loss of territory. it is just a codified norm t
hat regulates conduct of States. On the other hand, RA 9522 is a baseline law to mark out bas
epoints along coasts, serving as geographic starting points to measure. it merely notices the in
ternational community of the scope of our maritime space.
2. If passages is the issue, domestically, the legislature can enact legislation designating route
s within the archipelagic waters to regulate innocent and sea lanes passages. but in the absen
ce of such, international law norms operate. The fact that for archipelagic states, their waters
are subject to both passages does not place them in lesser footing vis a vis continental coastal
states. Moreover, RIOP is a customary international law, no modern state can invoke its sover
eignty to forbid such passage.
3. On the KIG issue, RA 9522 merely followed the basepoints mapped by RA 3046 and in fact, i
t increased the Phils. total maritime space. Moreover, the itself commits the Phils. continues
claim of sovereignty and jurisdiction over KIG.
If not, it would be a breach to 2 provisions of the UNCLOS III:
Art. 47 (3): drawing of basepoints shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general
configuration of the archipelago.
Art 47 (2): the length of baselines shall not exceed 100 mm.
KIG and SS are far from our baselines, if we draw to include them, well breach the rules: that i
t should follow the natural configuration of the archipelago.