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Legal Status of Internal Waters in the law of the sea and LOSC

Legal Status of Internal Waters in the law of the sea and LOSC

Every coastal State enjoys full sovereignty over its internal waters. Article 2(1) of the LOSC provides:
The sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyond its land territory and internal waters and, in the case of an archipelagic State, its archipelagic waters, to an adjacent belt of sea, described as the territorial sea.
Unlike the territorial sea, the right of innocent passage does not apply to internal waters. The exception to this rule is that where the internal waters have been newly enclosed by a straight baseline, the right of innocent passage shall exist in those waters by virtue of Article 5(2) of the TSC and Article 8 of the LOSC.

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