Part II - Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone

Part II of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea sets out the legal regime for the territorial sea, establishing a maximum breadth of 12 nautical miles from a coastal baseline where the coastal state exercises sovereignty, subject to the right of innocent passage. It also defines the contiguous zone, extending a further 12 nautical miles, in which the state may enforce customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary regulations to prevent infringement of its laws within the territorial sea.