The product "Maritime Boundaries" includes all the elements used to define maritime areas under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of France worldwide. These areas are defined by Ordinance No. 2016-1687 of December 8, 2016, concerning maritime areas under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the French Republic. This ordinance incorporates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) into French law, which was signed in Montego Bay (Jamaica) on December 10, 1982, and ratified by France on April 11, 1996.

These maritime delimitation elements are derived from the boundaries calculated by Shom based on international law, maritime delimitation agreements and conventions ratified between two states, decisions by an international legal body, recommendations from the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, or unilateral delimitation claims by France in the absence of an agreement.

They are divided into seven themes:

-- 1- Straight baselines;

-- 2- Outer limits of the territorial sea (12 nautical miles);

-- 3- Outer limits of the contiguous zone (24 nautical miles);

-- 4- Outer limits of the exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles);

-- 5- Maritime boundaries established by an agreement between states or resulting from a decision by an international legal body;

-- 6- Unilaterally claimed delimitations by France in the absence of an agreement;

-- 7- Outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.

Version of December 2022.