NAVAL EXERCISES AND WEAPON TESTS

HL Deb 02 February 1978 vol 388 c915WA

Lord KENNET

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Within what distance of the shores of the United Kingdom and of British oil and gas installations and of their related pipelines may foreign States conduct (a) naval exercises and (b) weapon tests, and which States have done either within what is now the United Kingdom fishery zone or over the British Continental Shelf during the last 10 years.

Lord WINTERBOTTOM

The United Kingdom's territorial sea extends to a distance of three miles from baselines; beyond the territorial sea all States enjoy the freedom of the high seas and can engage in naval exercises and weapon tests. Safety zones may extend to a distance of 500 metres around oil and gas installations, but not their related pipelines; unauthorised vessels and aircraft may not enter these zones, and within them the coastal State is entitled to take measures necessary for the protection of installations. No records are available of naval exercises or weapon tests conducted by other States outside the United Kingdom's territorial sea.