The Law of the Sea: (Law of Sea Convention, 1982)

Most of India's trade moves by sea, and the ships that carry it pass through waters that belong to India, waters that belong to other countries, and waters that belong to nobody. A fishing boat from Sassoon Dock needs to know where Indian law stops and where it does not. So does a navy vessel, a cable-laying ship, a mining company. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 is the rule book that sorts the ocean into zones and says who may do what in each. This topic covers the Convention as a whole; the next two topics take up the zones and the boundaries.

In two minutes

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982 is a comprehensive, package-deal treaty that divides the oceans into zones with different mixes of coastal State and international rights, gives the seabed beyond national limits to all mankind, and provides compulsory procedures for settling disputes.

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