India and the Marine Environment

In one line

India has seven and a half thousand kilometres of coastline, two million square kilometres of exclusive economic zone, and a body of domestic law that carries the Convention's obligations into Indian courts.

In exam wording: India signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 and ratified it in 1995; its maritime zones were declared by the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act 1976; MARPOL and the Civil Liability Convention are implemented through the Merchant Shipping Act 1958; and the coastal environment is governed by the Coastal Regulation Zone notification and the Island Protection Zone notification issued under section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986.

The Maritime Zones Act 1976

Enacted six years before the Convention was adopted, and it anticipated it.

• Section 3 declares the sovereignty of India over the territorial waters, extending to twelve nautical miles from the baseline, and over the seabed, subsoil and airspace.
• Section 4 provides for the right of innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial waters.
• Section 5 declares the contiguous zone to twenty-four nautical miles, and empowers the Central Government to extend to it any enactment relating to security, immigration, sanitation, customs and other fiscal matters, and to the protection of maritime archaeological and historical objects.
• Section 6 declares the continental shelf and vests in India sovereign rights for the purpose of exploration and exploitation of its resources.
• Section 7 declares the exclusive economic zone to two hundred nautical miles and vests in India sovereign rights for the purpose of exploration, exploitation, conservation and management of the natural resources, both living and non-living, together with exclusive jurisdiction for the preservation and protection of the marine environment and the prevention and control of marine pollution.
• Section 8 provides for designated areas in the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf, in which the Central Government may make provision for the exploration, exploitation and protection of resources, the safety and protection of installations and structures, and the protection of the marine environment.
• Sections 9 to 15 cover maritime boundaries with neighbouring States, publication of charts, offences by companies, and the power to make rules.

Section 7's express reference to jurisdiction over the preservation and protection of the marine environment is the domestic counterpart of article 56, paragraph 1(b)(iii), of the Convention, and it is the provision to cite in any Indian marine environmental question.

The Merchant Shipping Act 1958

Part XB contains provisions for the prevention and containment of pollution of the sea, giving effect to MARPOL: certificates, surveys, discharge prohibitions, the powers of the Director General of Shipping, and the power to detain a ship.

Part XA gives effect to the Civil Liability Convention: liability of the owner for pollution damage, the limitation of liability, the constitution of a limitation fund, compulsory insurance for ships carrying more than two thousand tonnes of oil in bulk, and the direct action against the insurer.