International waters in the Channel

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BelleSerene

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In the English Channel, Where do national waters stop and international waters start? Is it the usual 12-mile rule except where the channel is narrower than 24 miles and there's an agreed demarcation? I can't find reference to this anywhere.
 
This is a complex area. There are various limits for different reasons. 12 miles is the "territorial limit". 200 miles is the limit for some sorts of economic exploitation. Actual international waters start at the edge of the continental shelf. On the other hand the Danube may be international waters...

Between the countries bordering the Channel and the North Sea the "median line" (marked on UKHO charts) is important.

<edit>See United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982
Overview and full text at http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm for the full skinny</edit>
 
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Thanks. So how far off the French coast does a French customs cutter have jurisdiction to stop and interrogate (or potentially board) a private vessel?
 
Nothing at all to hide! I got stopped (well, interrogated over the radio) by a French customs cutter (that's what the ugly grey thing called itself anyway) a few weeks back on the way back from St Vaast. Probably beyond 12 miles offshore anyway. But it got me thinking.

So I would still be grateful for an authoritative answer: where does the jurisdiction of a nation's customs boats stop? I'm rather assuming it's in their territorial waters and that in international waters they can do nothing unless or until you (re-)enter their waters. But I may be wrong...
 
12 miles is territorial waters. However, most countries have between 12 and 24 miles down as a contiguous zone, by which they may still exercise their law and customs to some extent. I very much doubt you'll ever find a french customs boat operating more than 24 miles off their coast, but anything less than 24 miles off and they have the right to stop you.

If there is less than 24 miles of sea between two countries then territorial waters are halfway between the two.
 
BelleSerene said:
Nothing at all to hide! I got stopped (well, interrogated over the radio) by a French customs cutter (that's what the ugly grey thing called itself anyway) a few weeks back on the way back from St Vaast. Probably beyond 12 miles offshore anyway. But it got me thinking.

So I would still be grateful for an authoritative answer: where does the jurisdiction of a nation's customs boats stop? I'm rather assuming it's in their territorial waters and that in international waters they can do nothing unless or until you (re-)enter their waters. But I may be wrong...
Click to expand...

if you have been inside 12nm limit, and are transiting away, but the customs/police/coastguard/border force decides that you were acting suspiciously, they may well stop you outside the 12nm limit under a "hot pursuit" clause - depends on the laws of the country.
 
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