CONVENTION ON THE HIGH SEAS
DONE AT GENEVA, ON 29 APRIL 1958
(EXCERPTS)
The States Parties to this Convention,
Desiring to codify the rules of international law relating to the high
seas, recognizing that the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, held at Geneva from 24 February to 27 April 1958, adopted the followingprovisions as generally declaratory of established principles of international law,have agreed as follows:
Article 1
The term "high seas" means all parts of the sea that are not included in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State.
Article 2
The high seas being open to all nations, no State may validly purport to subject any part of them to its sovereignty. Freedom of the high seas is exercised under the conditions laid down by these articles and by the other rules of international law. It comprises, inter alia, both for coastal and non-coastal States:
(1) Freedom of navigation;
(2) Freedom of fishing;
(3) Freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines;
(4) Freedom to fly over the high seas.
These freedoms, and others which are recognized by the general principles of international law, shall be exercised by all States with reasonable regard to the interests of other States in their exercise of the freedom of the high seas.
Article 3 - not germane to discussion
Article 4 - not germane to discussion
Article 5
1. Each State shall fix the conditions for the grant of its nationality to ships, for the registration of ships in its territory, and for the right to fly its flag. Ships have the nationality of the State whose flag they are entitled to fly. There must exist a genuine link between the State and the ship; in particular, the State must effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control in administrative, technical and social matters over ships
flying its flag.
2. Each State shall issue to ships to which it has granted the right to fly its flag documents to that effect.
Article 6 & 7 - not germane to discussion
Article 8
1. Warships on the high seas have complete immunity from the jurisdiction of any State other than the flag State.
2. For the purposes of these articles, the term "warship" means a ship belonging to the naval forces of a State and bearing the external marks distinguishing warships of its nationality, under the command of an officer duly commissioned by the government and whose name appears in the Navy List, and manned by a crew who are under regular naval discipline.
Article 9
Ships owned or operated by a State and used only on government noncommercial service shall, on the high seas, have complete immunity from the jurisdiction of any State other than the flag State.
Article 10
1. Every State shall take such measures for ships under its flag as are necessary to ensure safety at sea with regard inter alia to:
(a) The use of signals, the maintenance of communications and the prevention of collisions;
(b) The manning of ships and labour conditions for crews taking into account the applicable international labour instruments;
(c) The construction, equipment and seaworthiness of ships.
2. In taking such measures each State is required to conform to generally accepted international standards and to take any steps which may be necessary to ensure their observance.
Article 11
1. In the event of a collision or of any other incident of navigation
concerning a ship on the high seas, involving the penal or disciplinary responsibility of the master or of any other person in the service of theship, no penal or disciplinary proceedings may be instituted against such persons except before the judicial or administrative authorities either of the flag State or of the State of which such person is a national.
2. In disciplinary matters, the State which has issued a master's
certificate or a certificate of competence or licence shall alone be
competent, after due legal process, to pronounce the withdrawal of such certificates, even if the holder is not a national of the State which issued them.
3. No arrest or detention of the ship, even as a measure of investigation, shall be ordered by any authorities other than those of the flag State.
Article 12
1. Every State shall require the master of a ship sailing under its flag,in so far as he can do so without serious danger to the ship, the crew or the passengers,
(a) To render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost;
(b) To proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in
distress if informed of their need of assistance, in so far as such action may reasonably be expected of him;
(c) After a collision, to render assistance to the other ship, her crew and her passengers and, where possible, to inform the other ship of the name of his own ship, her port of registry and the nearest port at which she will call.
2. Every coastal State shall promote the establishment and maintenance of an adequate and effective search and rescue service regarding safety on and over the sea and--where circumstances so require--by way of mutual regional
arrangements co-operate with neighbouring States for this purpose.
Article 13 & 14 - not germane to discussion
Article 14
All States shall co-operate to the fullest possible extent in the
repression of piracy on the high seas or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State.
Article 15
Piracy consists of any of the following acts:
(1) Any illegal acts of violence, detention or any act of depredation,committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
(a) On the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against
persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
(b) Against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(2) Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
(3) Any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in sub-paragraph 1 or sub-paragraph 2 of this article.
Article 16
The acts of piracy, as defined in article 15, committed by a warship, government ship or government aircraft whose crew has mutinied and taken control of the ship or aircraft are assimilated to acts committed by a private ship.
Article 17
A ship or aircraft is considered a pirate ship or aircraft if it is
intended by the persons in dominant control to be used for the purpose of committing one of the acts referred to in article 15. The same applies if the ship or aircraft has been used to commit any such act, so long as it remains under the control of the persons guilty of that act.
Article 18
A ship or aircraft may retain its nationality although it has become a pirate ship or aircraft. The retention or loss of nationality is determined by the law of the State from which such nationality was derived.
Article 19
On the high seas, or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State, every State may seize a pirate ship or aircraft, or a ship taken by piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest the persons and seize the property on board. The courts of the State which carried out the seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine
the action to be taken with regard to the ships, aircraft or property, subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.
Article 20
Where the seizure of a ship or aircraft on suspicion of piracy has been effected without adequate grounds, the State making the seizure shall be liable to the State the nationality of which is possessed by the ship or aircraft, for any loss or damage caused by the seizure.
Article 21
A seizure on account of piracy may only be carried out by warships or military aircraft, or other ships or aircraft on government service authorized to that effect.
Article 22
1. Except where acts of interference derive from powers conferred by treaty, a warship which encounters a foreign merchant ship on the high seas is not justified in boarding her unless there is reasonable ground for suspecting:
(a) That the ship is engaged in piracy; or
(b) That the ship is engaged in the slave trade; or
(c) That though flying a foreign flag or refusing to show its flag, the
ship is, in reality, of the same nationality as the warship.
2. In the cases provided for in sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) above, the warship may proceed to verify the ship's right to fly its flag. To thisend, it may send a boat under the command of an officer to the suspected ship. If suspicion remains after the documents have been checked, it mayproceed to a further examination on board the ship, which must be carried
out with all possible consideration.
3. If the suspicions prove to be unfounded, and provided that the ship boarded has not committed any act justifying them, it shall be compensated for any loss or damage that may have been sustained.
Article 23
1. The hot pursuit of a foreign ship may be undertaken when the competent authorities of the coastal State have good reason to believe that the ship has violated the laws and regulations of that State. Such pursuit must be commenced when the foreign ship or one of its boats is within the internal waters or the territorial sea or the contiguous zone of the pursuing State, and may only be continued outside the territorial sea or the contiguous zone if the pursuit has not been interrupted. It is not necessary that, at
the time when the foreign ship within the territorial sea or the contiguous zone receives the order to stop, the ship giving the order should likewise be within the territorial sea or the contiguous zone. If the foreign ship is within a contiguous zone, as defined in article 24 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, the pursuit may only be undertaken if there has been a violation of the rights for the protection
of which the zone was established.
2. The right of hot pursuit ceases as soon as the ship pursued enters the territorial sea of its own country or of a third State.
3. - 6. (More Details on Hot Pursuit)
7. Where a ship has been stopped or arrested on the high seas in
circumstances which do not justify the exercise of the right of hot
pursuit, it shall be compensated for any loss or damage that may have been thereby sustained.
Remaining Articles - not germane to discussion