Page 426 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

360 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES

In areas where the territorial sea overlaps that of another State, or
the waters adjacent to the partitioned Neutral Zone, Article 4 of the
Decree provides that boundaries will be determined in accordance
with Article 12 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea, referred to
above. The latter Article states that

“where the coasts of two States are opposite or adjacent to each
other, neither of the two States is entitled, failing agreement
between them to the contrary, to extend its territorial sea beyond
the median line. . .**
Article 6 provides that the provisions of the Decree shall not
affect (a) any of the rights of the parties concerned in the offshore
area of the partitioned Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Zone, and (b) the
existing rights of oil concession agreements concluded between
Kuwait and oil companies

“operating in the territory of Kuwait, or the partitioned Zone, of
the offshore areas of either, particularly in so far as the areas of
these concessions, as defined in the afore-mentioned agreements,
are concerned “.

Article 6 claims a further contiguous zone, the breadth of which is
left open. It states that Kuwait reserves
“rights in the zone contiguous to its territorial sea, which shall be
delimited at a later date, or in so far as they concern the
development of fishing resources”.
The Kuwait Decree of 1967, constitutes the first legislative Act
promulgated by the State of Kuwait regarding the delimitation of the
belt of her territorial sea. This legislation was preceded by the
Proclamation of 12 June 1949, made by the then Ruler of Kuwait
concerning his country’s claims to jurisdiction over the sea-bed and
subsoil resources of the submarine areas lying outside the territorial
sea of Kuwait.1

Before the promulgation of the Decree of 1967, Kuwait, like the
other Gulf Emirates, was known to belong to the category of States
which adopt a three-mile limit of territorial sea.2 However, for the
purpose of oil concession areas granted by Kuwait in the past, a
six-mile limit of territorial sea was adopted in most cases. These oil
concession areas are excluded from the application of the 1967

1. For English text of Kuwait’s Proclamation of 12 June 1949, see U.N.L.S., High
Seas, Vol. I (1951), pp. 22-30.
2. See this book, pp. 280-281, above.