Between 2008–2018 the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on Baselines under the International Law of the Sea produced two reports on the normal baseline (2012) and straight and archipelagic baselines (2018). The Sofia Report (2012) is organised around the interpretation of Article 5 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) concerning the normal baseline. Under the leadership of Committee Chair Judge Dolliver Nelson, the Committee was asked to identify the existing law on the normal baseline and to assess the need for further clarification or development of that law in light of substantial coastal change. The Report applies the rules of treaty interpretation, including an assessment of the ordinary meaning of the terms of the treaty and, because those leave the meaning ambiguous, the preparatory works of the normal baseline provision. The Report then turns to address the application of the existing law to changing coasts and concludes that the law on the normal baseline is inadequate to address problems of substantial territorial loss. The Sydney Report (2018) is organised around a common methodology in assessing Articles 7, 8, 10, 13, 14 and 47 of the LOSC concerning straight baselines, closing lines, and straight archipelagic baselines. Each analysis seeks to provide some background to the drafting of the Article, analysis of the text, assessment of state practice, relevant case law, and a summary of the commentary by publicists. The Report then moves to address certain cross-cutting or global issues that are relevant to a contemporary analysis of straight and archipelagic baselines, before reaching conclusions.
The term "extended continental shelf" is used here to indicate those areas of seabed and subsoil of the continental shelf, slope and rise located beyond 200 n.m. from the baseline. The term "outer continental shelf" is often used to refer to these same areas, but should be distinguished from the same term as it is used in United States statutory language and which refers to the continental shelf beginning at the outer limit of each federated states' submerged lands (usually 3 n.m. from shore) and extending to the outer limit of federal jurisdiction. See Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. §1301.
This chapter sets out the international law of baselines and identifies past, present, and possible future problems in this area of the law of the sea. It begins by considering the so-called ‘normal baseline’, consisting of the low-water line along the coast, and asks whether this baseline is fixed or ambulatory. It examines specific categories of coastal features that make up the normal baseline, including human-made coastal defences, harbour works, low tide elevations, and reefs. It then turns to the various baselines formed by straight line segments, including lines closing mouths of rivers, bay closing lines, port closing lines, straight baselines (stricto sensu), and archipelagic baselines.
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