The exclusive economic zone: Compatibility of national claims and the un convention on the law of the sea

The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is the newest juridical zone which has emerged from the recent evolution of the law of the sea. The EEZ represents the culmination of efforts to devise a transitional zone between the territorial sea, in which the coastal state has sovereignty subject to the right of innocent passage, and the high seas, an area whose use has been regarded traditionally as free for all. The creation of the EEZ, whose outline is embodied in Part V of the 1982 UN. Law of the Sea Convention, marks an important departure from the law of the sea regime codified in the four conventions drafted at the first U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1958. In this latter system the high seas began at the outer limit of the territorial sea; in the new law of the sea this is no longer the case as the EEZ has been interposed between the territorial sea and the high seas. While the general legal concept of the EEZ has gained increasing support, differences remain as to the balance of interests which the EEZ concept entails and what specific rights and duties it encompasses. Because of the wording of the new Convention and its negotiating history the legal situation is not clear in all respects. Further, not all the states asserting rights to an EEZ are signatories of or intend to become party to the 1982 Convention. In this context, state practice will be of great significance in shaping EEZ evolution. This study provides a preliminary examination and analysis of state practice as evidenced in national EEZ proclamations and/or legislation against the yardstick of the 1982 Convention.