• Summary

This legal document contains the English version of the Statement of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the Territorial Sea, the Contiguous Zone, the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf, promulgated in 1977. The statement states the interpretation of and the legal status of the territorial sea, contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelves, and the regime of islands of Vietnam.

There was no clarification regarding the measurement of the baseline of the territorial sea, which would be addressed later in the Statement on 12 November 1982 by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam on the Territorial Sea Baseline of Viet Nam. Legal interpretation included in the Statement does not deviate from those provided in the 1982 UNCLOS which was established 5 years later with Vietnam as one of the contracting parties. Further extension on the sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction of the state of Vietnam and the rights and duties of foreign vessels within the maritime zones mentioned in the first paragraph can be found in Vietnam’s Law of the Sea adopted in 2012.

• Document: Statement of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the Territorial Sea, the Contiguous Zone, the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf, promulgated in 1977 (English version, adopted from UN Treaty Series)