Safety|Finland revises the so-called baseline every 30 years, because the earth’s surface rises and the coordinates change.
Sea zones are based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which includes almost 170 countries, including Finland and Russia.
“It is a well-established international legal basis for maritime zone issues,” says a legislative advisor familiar with maritime law Sari Mäkelä from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Definition starts from the baseline running along the coast, which determines the extent of the state’s territorial waters.
The internal territorial waters, which are the territory of the state, remain inside the baseline. 12 nautical miles from the baseline, or about 22 kilometers outward, are the external territorial waters, or the territorial sea, which is also still the territory of the coastal state.
For the baseline, the distance from, for example, the beach is not defined in the same way as for the extent of the territorial sea from the baseline. The location of the baseline depends on geographical conditions, says Mäkelä.
According to the UN agreement, the state can define the baseline using two different methods, depending on the shape of the coast.
There is a standard baseline used when the coast is not particularly rugged and follows the low water line. Finland does not use it in its maritime zone regulation, but instead uses another method according to the convention, a baseline consisting of straight baselines.
In it, the basic points are first defined in front of the coast, which can be, for example, rocks and islets that are visible even during high tide. The baseline goes through them, but must not deviate from the direction of the coast.
“According to our legislation, the baseline can live. The law on regional water boundaries stipulates that the baseline must be checked every 30 years,” says Mäkelä.
“The last time it was done was in 1995. The background is that the ground level is rising in our direction, so new base points may be created on the coast. We can specify the coordinates and notify them to the UN Secretary General acting as depositary of the agreement.”
The revisions in 1995 were notified to the neighboring countries and they were told what kind of coordinate list the new baseline is based on.
Also going further from the baseline to the sea, you are still in the territory of the coastal state in the territorial sea, which is also referred to as external territorial waters.
“Ships from other states can enter the territorial sea for so-called innocent transit. Instead, you may not enter the baseline except with the consent of the coastal state.”
Even after the outer border of the territorial sea, the coastal state has the right to the continental shelf, i.e. the bottom of the sea and the economic zone. However, they no longer belong to the coastal state’s territory, and the jurisdiction of the coastal state is smaller over them than in the territorial sea.
If Finland, for example, specifies where the innermost zone runs, i.e. defines a new baseline, it does not automatically affect the boundary of the territorial sea or the economic zone. The state can also specify the outer boundary of the territorial sea if it stays within the framework of the UN Convention and other possible agreements binding on the state in question.
On the other hand, Finland cannot change the outer border of the economic zone on its own.
“We have an agreement with Sweden, Estonia and Russia about the middle line where the economic zone is limited,” says Mäkelä.
According to Mäkelä, it is still to be clarified what the information about changing the sea borders with regard to Russia concerns in more detail.
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