§ Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which States neighbouring the United Kingdom have, and have not, accepted Her Majesty's Government's proposal for the delineation of the continental shelf as between them and the United Kingdom on the basis of the median lines and what further approaches have been made since 1965.
§ Mr. RifkindAgreements delimiting the continental shelf on the basis of equidistance have been concluded with Norway, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands. Agreement has also been reached in principle with Belgium. The delimitation between the United Kingdom and France of the continental shelf in the Channel west of 0 degrees 30 minutes west and the south-west approaches was laid down by a court of arbitration which gave its decisions in June 1977 and March 1978. The court was not asked to determine the eastern part of the boundary because the parties were already agreed in principle that the boundary would be the median line. An agreement with France for this purpose was signed on 24 June and will be laid before Parliament in the usual way. Negotiations are in train for the submission to arbitration of the delimitation of the boundary with the Republic of Ireland.