CONTIGUOUS ZONE. 1. In a zone of the high seas contiguous to its territorial sea, the coastal State may exercise the control necessary to:
(a) Prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary regulations within its territory or territorial sea;
(b) Punish infringement of the above regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.
2. The contiguous zone may not extend beyond twelve miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
3. Where the coasts of two States are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither of the two States is entitled, failing agreement between them to the contrary, to extend its contiguous zone beyond the median line every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial seas of the two States is measured.
CONTIGUOUS ZONE. 1 In a zone contiguous to its territorial sea, described as the contiguous 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.
CONTIGUOUS ZONE. In cases arising in the contiguous zone of a Party, not involving suspect vessels fleeing from the waters of that Party or suspect vessels having the nationality of that Party, in which both Parties have the authority to exercise jurisdiction to prosecute, the Party which conducts the boarding and search shall have the right to exercise jurisdiction.
CONTIGUOUS ZONE. This zone is immediately seaward of the territorial sea (12 NM) and extends no more than 24 NM from the baseline.48
CONTIGUOUS ZONE. The contiguous zone was created by UNCLOS III solely to allow the coastal State to prevent and punish infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws “within its territory or territorial sea.”113 Thus, the contiguous zone serves as a buffer to prevent or punish violations of coastal State law that occurred on land, within internal waters, or within the territorial sea, and arguably not for purported violations within the contiguous zone itself (unless the deleterious effects extend to the territorial sea). Thus, a vessel polluting while engaged in innocent passage in the territorial sea could be stopped and arrested in the contiguous zone. However, all nations continue to enjoy the right to exercise the traditional high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight in the contiguous zone. 106 UNCLOS III, art. 27; Xxxxxxxxx & Xxxx, supra note 2, at 98, 268. 107 UNCLOS III, art. 28; Xxxxxxxxx & Xxxx, supra note 2, at 98, 461. 108 UNCLOS III, art. 30; Annotated NWP 1-14M, supra note 1, at 2-1. For an interesting 1994 Naval message on the sovereign immunity policy, including examples of situations raising the issue of sovereign immunity, see id. at 2-43 to 2-46. See also NWP 1-14M (2007), supra note 1, at para. 2.1 (stating this immunity arises as a matter of customary international law.). 109 UNCLOS III, art. 31; Xxxxxxxxx & Xxxx, supra note 2, at 99. 110 UNCLOS III, art. 30; Annotated NWP 1-14M, supra note 1, at 1-18 to 1-19, 2-2. 111 Xxxxxxxxx & Xxxx, supra note 2, at 99. 112 See generally xxxx://xxx.xxx.xxx/. 113 UNCLOS III, art. 33(1)(a) and (b); Annotated NWP 1-14M, supra note 1, at 1-18 to 1-19, 1-48; Xxxxxxxxx & Xxxx, supra note 2, at 132-39. Note that the Annotated NWP 1-14M’s assertion that “[t]he U.S. claims a contiguous zone extending 12 nautical miles from the baselines used to measure the territorial sea” is no longer correct. Presidential Proclamation No. 7219 of Aug 2, 1999 extended the U.S. contiguous zone out to 24 NM from the baseline. See also NWP 1-14M (2007), supra note 1, at para. 1.6.1.
