Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

9.   Delimitation of continental shelf or exclusive economic zone in certain cases

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   (1)   Wherever the equidistance line between Saint Lucia and an adjacent State is less than 200 nautical miles from the nearest point of the baseline of the territorial sea—

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      (a)     the delimitation of the continental shelf shall be effected by agreement between Saint Lucia and the adjacent State on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable settlement; and

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      (b)     the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone shall be effected between Saint Lucia and the adjacent State on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable settlement.

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   (2)   Where, in any case, an agreement of the kind referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (1)(b) cannot be reached, Saint Lucia shall have recourse to the procedures provided by international law for the settlement of any dispute.

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   (3)   Pending the delimitation of—

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      (a)     the continental shelf under subsection (1)(a) or (2); or

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      (b)     the exclusive economic zone under subsection (1)(b) or (2),

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   the equidistance line between Saint Lucia and the adjacent State shall constitute the outer limits of the continental shelf or, as the case may be, the exclusive economic zone, unless Saint Lucia and the adjacent State make other provisional arrangements with respect to those limits.

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   (4)   For the purpose of implementing any agreement under subsection (1), any settlement pursuant to subsection (2) or any provisional arrangements under subsection (3), the Minister may, from time to time, by order published in the Gazette, declare that the continental shelf or the exclusive economic zone shall not extend to any specified area of the sea, seabed or subsoil that would otherwise be included therein by virtue of section 7 or, as the case may be, section 8, and the order, while it remains in force, shall, subject to section 30, have effect according to its tenor, notwithstanding anything in this Act.

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   (5)   In this section, “equidistance line”, as between Saint Lucia and an adjacent State, means a line every point of which is equidistant from the nearest point of the baseline of the territorial sea and the corresponding baseline of the adjacent State.