TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE ACT

TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE

CHAPTER 226

TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS

ZONE ACT

To extend the territorial waters of Malta and to make provision for a

contiguous zone.

10th December, 1971

ACT XXXII of 1971, as amended by Acts: XLVI of 1975, XXIV of 1978,

XXVIII of 1981, I of 2002, X of 2005 and XXIX of 2014.

The short title of this Act is the Territorial Waters and

Contiguous Zone Act.

(Article 3)

The appropriate points, joined by straight baselines, from which

the breadth of the territorial waters is measured are as follows

Latitude

Longitude

PT. 1

35° 49' 06.9''N

14° 33' 39.2'' E

PT. 2

35° 49' 11.4'' N

14° 33' 44.1'' E

PT. 3

35° 50' 27.0'' N

14° 34' 21.9'' E

PT. 4

35° 51' 38.3'' N

14° 34' 35.2'' E

PT. 5

35° 51' 42.4'' N

14° 34' 36.0'' E

PT. 6

35° 52' 02.5'' N

14° 34' 29.9'' E

PT. 7

35° 52' 21.0'' N

14° 34' 14.3'' E

PT. 8

35° 52' 41.9'' N

14° 33' 51.2'' E

PT. 9

35° 52' 48.3'' N

14° 33' 44.0'' E

PT. 10

35° 55' 49.7'' N

14° 29' 28.8'' E

PT. 11

36° 03' 33.6'' N

14° 18' 38.4'' E

PT. 12

36° 04' 48.3'' N

14° 15' 06.8'' E

PT. 13

36° 04' 55.4'' N

14° 14' 11.5'' E

PT. 14

36° 04' 56.5'' N

14° 13' 54.0'' E

PT. 15

36° 04' 54.7'' N

14° 13' 21.4'' E

PT. 16

36° 04' 48.6'' N

14° 12' 40.3'' E

PT. 17

36° 04' 43.7'' N

14° 12' 11.9'' E

PT. 18

36° 04' 29.6'' N

14° 11' 07.7'' E

PT. 19

36° 04' 22.5'' N

14° 11' 03.6'' E

PT. 20

36° 04' 10.9'' N

14° 11' 01.6'' E

PT. 21

36° 02' 11.7'' N

14° 11' 11.2'' E

PT. 22

35° 52' 47.3'' N

14° 20' 11.1'' E

PT. 23

35° 47' 14.9'' N

14° 24' 19.0'' E

PT. 24

35° 47' 13.4'' N

14° 24' 21.2'' E

PT. 25

35° 47' 12.6'' N

14° 24' 23.6'' E

PT. 26

35° 47' 12.6'' N

14° 24' 35.2'' E

PT. 27

35° 48' 22.8'' N

14° 31' 50.0'' E

PT. 28

35° 48' 26.9'' N

14° 32' 07.4'' E

Basepoints are referred to WGS84.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"appropriate action" means all or any of the following actions

(a)

to hail a vessel,

(b)

to stop a vessel,

(c)

to board a vessel,

(d)

to search a vessel,

(e)

to arrest and detain any person suspected of being

about to commit a criminal offence or of having

committed such an offence,

(f) to seize anything on board a vessel suspected of

having any connection with a criminal offence,

(g) to require the master of a vessel to take the vessel and

crew out of Maltese waters or to a port or harbour in

Malta;

"foreign military vessel" means any ship belonging to the armed

forces of a foreign State and having such characteristics mutatis

mutandis as correspond to those of a Maltese military vessel;

"law" includes any instrument having the force of law;

"Malta" means the Island of Malta, the Island of Gozo and the

other islands of the Maltese Archipelago;

"Maltese military vessel" means a ship belonging to the armed

forces of Malta bearing the external marks distinguishing such

ships as belonging to Malta under the command of an officer duly

commissioned by the government of Malta and whose name

appears in the appropriate service list or its equivalent, and manned

by a crew which is under regular armed forces discipline;

"maritime enforcement officer" means any member of the Malta

Police Force, of the Armed Forces of Malta, any Customs Officer

and any other officer vested with general law enforcement

authority;

"relevant offence" means any offence against any law relating to

customs, fiscal matters, immigration and sanitation, including

TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE

pollution;

"relevant vessel or craft" means any Maltese military vessel or

military aircraft or any vessel or craft, including an aircraft,

belonging to the armed forces or any of the law enforcement

authorities of Malta, including the customs authorities, bearing the

external marks distinguishing such vessel or craft as belonging to

Malta and identifying it as being on government service;

"suspect vessel" means any vessel in respect of which

appropriate action is to be taken.

(1) Save as hereinafter provided, the breadth of the

territorial waters of Malta shall be twelve nautical miles measured

from baselines determined using the method of straight baselines

joining appropriate points on the low-water line, defined by the

coordinates in the Schedule.

(2) For the purposes of the Fisheries Conservation and

Management Act and of any other law relating to fishing, whether

made before or after this Act, the territorial waters of Malta shall,

with respect to the exercise of sovereign rights for the purpose of

exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the living and,

or non-living natural resources therein, extend to a breadth of

twenty-five nautical miles from the baselines from which the

breadth of the territorial waters is measured, and, for the purposes

aforesaid, jurisdiction shall extend accordingly.

(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of article 3(2), in

the zone of the open sea contiguous to the territorial waters of

Malta as defined in article 3(1) (such zone being in this Act

referred to as "the contiguous zone") the State shall have such

jurisdictions and powers as are recognised in respect of such zone

by international law and in particular may exercise therein the

control necessary -

(a) to prevent any contravention of any law relating to

customs, fiscal matters, immigration and sanitation,

including pollution, and

(b) to punish offences against any such law committed

within Malta or in the territorial waters of Malta as

defined by article 3(1) or (2), as the case may require.

(2) The contiguous zone shall extend to twenty-four nautical

miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial

waters is measured.

(1) Subject to the provisions of subarticle (2), any

maritime enforcement officer on board a relevant vessel or craft

may, within the internal or territorial waters of Malta, take

appropriate action with respect to any vessel, other than a foreign

military vessel or a ship owned by a foreign state used only for

non-commercial service, whether flying the Maltese or any other

flag or not flying any flag, reasonably suspected of having on board

any person reasonably suspected of being about to commit or of

having committed any offence against any of the laws of Malta.

TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE

(2) Subject to the provisions of subarticle (3), where the suspected offence has

been committed on board the foreign vessel during its passage

through the territorial waters of Malta, the power referred to in

subarticle (1) shall not be exercised unless

(a) the consequences of the offence extend to Malta; or

(b) the offence is such as to disturb the peace of Malta or

the good order of the territorial waters; or

(c) the assistance of the Maltese authorities has been

requested by the master of the vessel or by a

diplomatic agent or consular officer of the flag State of

the vessel; or

(d) appropriate action is necessary for the suppression of

illicit traffic in narcotic drugs or pyschotropic

substances.

(3) The provisions of subarticle (2) shall not affect the right of

any maritime enforcement officer on board any relevant vessel or

craft to take any steps authorised by Maltese law for the purpose of

an arrest or investigation on board a foreign vessel passing through

the territorial waters of Malta after leaving Maltese internal waters.

(1) Any maritime enforcement officer on board a relevant

vessel or craft may, within the contiguous zone, take appropriate

action with respect to any vessel, other than a foreign military

vessel or a ship owned by a foreign state used only for non-

commercial service, whether flying the Maltese or any other flag or

not flying any flag, reasonably suspected of having on board any

person reasonably suspected of being about to commit or of having

committed within the jurisdiction of the Maltese courts any

relevant offence.

(2) Where following appropriate action having been taken in

respect of a suspect vessel flying a foreign flag no suspicion

remains that an offence against the laws of Malta has been

committed by any member of the crew of that vessel, the same

vessel may be kept under surveillance until it is out of the limits of

the contiguous zone.

(3) Where following appropriate action having been taken in

respect of a suspect vessel, whether pertaining to Malta or flying a

foreign flag, the suspicion remains that any person on board the

vessel has committed within the jurisdiction of the Maltese courts

any offence against the laws of Malta, any maritime enforcement

officer may take any further appropriate action in respect of that

person and of the vessel and crew.

(4) Where the master of a suspect vessel has been required to

take the vessel to a port or harbour in Malta, the members of the

crew of the vessel suspected of being about to commit or of having

committed an offence within the jurisdiction of the Maltese courts

shall be handed over to the Police for further investigation.

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(1) The Prime Minister may make regulations to control

and regulate the passage of ships through the territorial waters of

Malta, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing,

may by such regulations make provision with respect to all or any

one or more of the following matters

(a) the safety of navigation and the regulation of marine

traffic, including the designation or establishment of

sea lanes and traffic separation schemes to be used or

observed for the passage of ships;

(b) the protection of navigational aids and facilities and

other facilities or installations;

(c) the protection of cables and pipelines;

(d) the conservation of the living resources of the sea;

(e) the prevention of infringement of any law or

regulation relating to fisheries;

(f) the preservation of the environment and the

prevention, reduction and control of pollution thereof;

(g) marine scientific research and hydrographic surveys;

(h) the prevention of infringement of any customs, fiscal,

immigration or sanitary laws or regulations;

(i) the arrest, detention and seizure of ships to ensure

compliance with any law, rule, regulation or order and

such other power as may be necessary for securing

such compliance;

(j) the punishments, whether by way of fine (multa or

ammenda) or of imprisonment, to be applied in respect

of any contravention or non-observance of any

regulation made under this article.

(2) In the application of any regulation made under subarticle

(1) to warships or to nuclear powered ships or to ships carrying

nuclear or other inherently dangerous or noxious substances, their

passage through territorial waters may, by any such regulation, be

made subject to the prior consent of, or prior notification to, such

authority as may be specified therein.

(1) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting any

jurisdiction and power exercisable in accordance with international

law outside territorial waters, and in particular the following

provisions of this article shall apply.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subarticle (3), where a relevant

vessel or craft has, within Maltese internal or territorial waters, or

within the contiguous zone of Malta, commenced the pursuit of a

suspect vessel, the relevant vessel may continue in hot pursuit of

the suspect vessel into the high seas provided that the pursuit has

not been interrupted

Provided that where the suspect vessel is within the

contiguous zone when it is ordered to stop by a maritime

enforcement officer on board the relevant vessel, the pursuit may

only be undertaken if the suspect vessel is suspected of having

TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE

committed any relevant offence.

(3) Where the suspect vessel is within the contiguous zone, hot

pursuit may only be undertaken if the commission of a relevant

offence is reasonably suspected.

(4) The right of hot pursuit referred to in this article shall not

be undertaken unless the relevant vessel or craft has first given the

suspect vessel a visual or auditory signal to stop and the said right

of hot pursuit shall cease where the suspect vessel enters the

territorial sea of its own State or of a third State.

(5) Where hot pursuit is effected by an aircraft the provisions

of subarticles (2) to (4) shall apply mutatis mutandis. The

provisions of subarticle (6) shall also apply.

(6) An aircraft shall not arrest a suspect vessel outside the

territorial waters of Malta unless the aircraft had itself ordered the

suspect vessel to stop and had pursued it without interruption, and

where hot pursuit had been undertaken by an aircraft and the

pursuit was taken over by another aircraft or ship, such other

aircraft or ship shall only be authorised to arrest the suspect vessel

outside the territorial waters of Malta if the said other aircraft or

ship had continued the pursuit without interruption.

(7) The right of hot pursuit shall apply mutuatis mutandis to

any violation in the area estabished by article 3(2) or of any law for

the purposes of which the said area is established.

(8) Where a Maltese military vessel encounters on the high

seas a foreign vessel, not being a foreign military vessel or a ship

owned by a foreign State used only on non-commercial service,

hereafter referred to in this subarticle as the suspect vessel, and

there is reasonable ground for suspecting that -

(a) the suspect vessel is engaged in piracy;

(b) the suspect vessel is engaged in the slave trade;

(c) the suspect vessel is engaged in unauthorised

broadcasting and the Maltese courts have jurisdiction

thereon;

(d) the suspect vessel is without nationality; or

(e) though flying a foreign flag or refuses to show its flag,

the suspect vessel is a vessel registered in Malta,

any maritime enforcement officer on board the relevant vessel may

proceed to verify the suspect vessel’s right to fly its flag by

boarding the suspect vessel and checking its documents and if

thereupon suspicion remains as to the nationality of the suspect

vessel, the relevant vessel may proceed to a further examination

with all possible consideration.

(9) Any person or suspect vessel discovered to be engaged in

unauthorised broadcasting as provided in subarticle (7)(c) may be

arrested by any maritime enforcement officer on board the relevant

vessel who may also seize any apparatus used in the said

unauthorised broadcasting.

TERRITORIAL WATERS AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE