The product “Maritime limits and boundaries” (French: “Délimitations maritimes”) gathers all the elements used for the definition of the maritime spaces under the French sovereignty or jurisdiction through the world. Those spaces are defined by the Ordonnance n° 2016-1687 of 8 December 2016 relating to maritime spaces under sovereignty or jurisdiction of the French Republic. This ordonnance is the transcription in the French legislation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was signed in Montego Bay (Jamaica) on 10 December 1982 end ratified by France on 11 April 1996.

These elements of maritime limits and boundaries come from the limits computed by Shom on the basis of International Law, from the international agreements relating to maritime boundary and the technical conventions ratified between France and other States, from the decisions of international juridical bodies, from the recommendations of the Commission of the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNO) or from unilateral claims from France in the absence of agreement.

The elements are divided into seven themes:

1- Straight baselines

2- Outer limits of the territorial sea (12 nautical miles)

3- Outer limits of the contiguous zone (24 nautical miles)

4- Outer limits of the exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles)

5- Maritime boundaries established by a bilateral agreement or decided by an international juridical body

6- Maritime boundaries unilaterally claimed by France in the absence of agreement

7- Outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles

December 2022 version