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SOMA HEGDEKATTE CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
of the land territory from the coast of the State and includes the seabed and subsoil
of the submarine areas.7 The convention states that for delimitation of exclusive
economic zones and continental shelves that are parallel or adjacent to each other,
countries must come to a consensus either by a bilateral agreement or they must
subject themselves to the procedures given under part XV of UNCLOS.8
The dispute settlement mechanism given in Part XV of UNCLOS is both complex
and remarkable. For one, once signed, the UNCLOS dispute settlement is binding on
the states. Article 287 gives a state four options for dispute settlement procedure. In
a case where any either party has not agreed on the same procedure or where one party
has not elected a procedure, the default procedure would be arbitration.9
In case the natural prolongation of a country’s continental shelf is beyond 200 nm
and the country wants rights for the same, then it must apply to the Commission on
the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).10
Delimitation refers to drawing of the maritime boundary between two countries.
A tribunal has jurisdiction for delimiting continental shelf beyond 200 nm.11 For
delimitation under part XV, the most famous method is the equidistance method.
In maritime boundary delimitation, an equidistant line is: ‘the line every point of
which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the
territorial sea of each of the two States is measured.’12
These points are known as base points. Through various cases, a three stage
procedure has been established for the same:
– The tribunal will construct a provisional equidistance line.
– Post that, the tribunal will analyse if there is any relevant circumstance requiring
adjustment of this line. If so, an adjustment to the line will be made.
– In the final step, the tribunal will adjudge if the adjusted line may result in any
significant disproportion between the ratio of the respective coastal lengths and
the ratio of the relevant maritime areas allocated to each party.13
Another method for delimitation is the angle bisector method. A bisector is ‘the
line formed by bisecting the angle created by the linear approximations of coastlines’.
7 Ibid., article 76.
8 Ibid., article 74, article 83.
9 Ibid., article 287 (1)(c).
10 COALTER LATHROP, ‘Continental Shelf Delimitation Beyond 200 Nautical Miles: Approaches
Taken by Coastal States before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf’ in DAVID A.
COLSON AND ROBERT W. SMITH (eds), International Maritime Boundaries [2011] 4139.
11 Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the
Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh/Myanmar), judgement of 14 March 2012, Case No. 16, (judgment), [2012]
ITLOS rep, 379.
12 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone (adopted 10 September 1964), article 12.
13 NUGZAR DUNDUA, ‘Delimitation of maritime boundaries between adjacent States’, <http://www.
georgia.pdf> , last accessed on 1 May 2016.