§ Mr. Laurance Reedasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the official proposal of the Icelandic Government that coastal States should enjoy exclusive fishing rights in all the waters overlying their Continental Shelf.
§ Mr. Anthony RoyleHer Majesty's Government's policy is based on the Convention on the Continental Shelf adopted at Geneva in 1958, which was ratified by the United Kingdom and came into force in 1964. Article 3 of that Convention states that the rights of the coastal state over the continental shelf do not affect the legal status of the superjacent waters as high seas. Moreover, the United Kingdom agreed by means of an Exchange of Notes in March, 1961, that Iceland should have exclusive rights over fisheries within a 12-mile zone.
§ Mr. Laurance Reedasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will seek to initiate a common European approach to the problem of jurisdiction over the Continental Shelf, slope and rise in the north-east Atlantic.
§ Mr. Anthony RoyleI am aware of the interest which my hon. Friend has in this particular aspect of the problem. However, our efforts in the United Nations Sea Bed Committee, in common with those of other European countries, are directed towards the solution of the question of limits to national jurisdiction and of an international regime for the sea bed beyond those limits on a fully international basis rather than a regional one.