National
United States
Presidential Proclamation No. 5928 Territorial Sea


Appendix G 
Presidential Proclamation No. 5928 
December 27, 1988, 54 F.R. 777 
Territorial Sea of the 
United States of America 


International law recognizes that coastal nations may exercise sovereignty 
and jurisdiction over their territorial seas. 
The territorial sea of the United States is a maritime zone extending 
beyond the land territory and internal waters of the United States over which 
the United States exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction, a sovereignty and 
jurisdiction that extends to the airspace over the territorial sea, as well as to its 
bed and subsoil. 

Extension of the territorial sea by the United States to the limits permitted 
by international law will advance the national security and other significant 
interests of the United States. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, by the authority vested in me as 
President by the Constitution of the United States of America, and in 
accordance with international law, do hereby proclaim the extension of the 
territorial sea of the United States of America, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory or 
possession over which the United States exercises sovereignty. 
The territorial sea of the United States henceforth extends to 12 nautical 
miles from the baselines of the United States determined in accordance with 
international law. 

In accordance with international law, as reflected in the applicable 
provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 
within the territorial sea of the United States, the ships of all countries enjoy the 
right of innocent passage and the ships and aircraft of all countries enjoy the 
right of transit passage through international straits. 
Nothing in this Proclamation: 

(a) extends or otherwise alters existing Federal or State law or anyjurisdiction, rights, legal interests, or obligations derived therefrom; or 
(b) impairs the determination, in accordance with international law, orany maritime boundary of the United States with a foreign jurisdiction. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of 
December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
thirteenth. 

/s/ Ronald Reagan