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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