Maritime Zones Act 2005.
The Maritime Zones Act 1977 is repealed.
In force on the 1st April 2005

Abstract

Part II of the Act concerns the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea which has the force of the Law in Mauritius.

Part III deals the Baselines and the closing lines for internal waters, whereas Part IV is mainly concerned with the Territorial Sea and internal, historic and archipelagic waters. Most important is section 6 which regards the legal status of the seas of Mauritius and section 7 which is the territorial sea between the baselines and a line of which every point is at a distance of 12 nautical miles from the nearest point of the baselines.

The contiguous zone and the internal controls are dealt in Part V of the Act.

The exclusive economic zone and the rights, duties and jurisdiction of Mauritius in the EEC are covered in Part VI of the Act. By virtue of section 15 of the Act, Mauritius has in accordance with international law and in particular Article 56 of the United Nations for the Convention of the Law of the Seas sovereign rights to explore, exploit whether living or non-living the waters of the seabed and exploitation of the EEZ and also has jurisdiction to the establishment of and use of artificial islands and marine scientific research amongst others.

Part VII of the Act deals exclusively with the continental shelf whistle Part VIII deals with the Marine Scientific Research.

Keywords: Exclusive economic zone, maritime, seabed, United Nations, Laws of the Seas, Territorial sea

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