§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has yet received the decision of the United Kingdom/France Court of Arbitration on the delimitation of the Continental Shelf; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JuddThe Court of Arbitration established in Geneva under the Arbitration Agreement of 10th July 1975 between the Government of the United Kingdom and the French Republic was requested to decide the course of the boundary (or boundaries) between the portions of the Continental Shelf appertaining to the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands and to the French Republic, respectively, westward of 0° 30' West as far as the 1,000 metre isobath in the South-Western Approaches; the decision of the Court was delivered to representatives of the United Kingdom and France on 18th July. Under the Arbitration Agreement both parties agreed that the court's award would be binding.
In a unanimous decision, the court laid down the Continental Shelf boundaries as follows: in the English Channel, the boundary is a median line giving full effect to all islands (except the Channel Islands); north and west of the Channel Islands, because of the geographical circumstances, the boundary is drawn at a distance of 12 miles from Channel Islands base-points, thus leaving a strip of French Continental Shelf between this line and the median line described above; in the South-Western Approaches the boundary is a median line which, because the court found that the location of the Scilly Isles constituted a special circumstance, is adjusted to give one-half effect to the Scilly Isles.
The court decided that the parties had not conferred on it the competence to 91W lay down a boundary to the south and east of the Channel Islands, inasmuch as this would involve resolving disputed points relating to the measurement of the territorial seas of the two parties.
Copies of the full decision and of the accompanying chart are available in the Library of the House.