§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will list the provisions of international law governing the vesting in the Crown of the minerals below the seabed on the continental shelf beyond national territorial jurisdiction.
§ Mr. Anthony RoyleRights over the minerals in question are vested in the54W Crown, not directly by international law, but by our own Continental Shelf Act 1964. Rights in relation to coal are not vested in the Crown by the Act of 1964, but are dealt with by seperate legislation. The Act of 1964 gave effect to the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf, of which the most relevant provisions are that the coastal State exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources. The continental shelf was defined in the convention as being the sea bed and subsoil of the sub-marine areas adjacent to the coast, including those of islands, but outside the area of the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 metres or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the natural resources of the said areas. Natural resources are defined in the convention as meaning mineral resources and sedentary species of fish.