This legal document contains the English version of the Act No. 6 of 8 August 1996 regarding Indonesian Waters promulgated by the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia in 1996. The document states the legal interpretation of, sovereignty, jurisdiction, and duties of the Indonesian state over, the rights and duties of foreign vessels and aircraft within, and codes of maritime operations (i.e. innocent passage,  cables laying…) within the Indonesian waters which includes the inland water,s, the archipelagic waters, and the territorial sea.  The Act also clarifies its premise that Indonesia as an archipelagic state has successfully campaigned for the legal concept of the archipelagic state into the UNCLOS in 1985, and thereby, and associated legal concepts such as archipelagic waters, archipelagic sea lanes for innocent passage,

Notably, Article 1.3 of the Act defines Archipelago as a group of islands, including parts of islands and water between said islands, and other natural manifestations, of which the reciprocal relationship is so close that the said islands, waters and other natural manifestations constitute one geographical, economic, security and defence and political unity of intrinsic nature”. “Defence and security” was not provided in Article 46 of the UNCLOS that interpret the term of “Archipelago”. Finally, Article 5.1 specifies that the baseline of the Indonesian Archipelago is drawn using archipelago’s straight baseline, which was not included in Act No.5 in 1983.  

Document: Act No. 6 of 8 August 1996 regarding Indonesian Waters (adopted from UN Treaty Series)