Boundary negotiations 
bed and subsoil of the submarine areas that ex 
tend beyond its territorial sea to the outer edge of 
the continental margin. The coastal state exercises 
over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the 
purpose of exploring it and exploiting Its natural 
resources. 
UNCLOS 
In 1982 the United Nations Convention on the Law 
of the Sea (UNCLOS) was concluded and replaced 
four treaties of 1958. UNCLOS came into force in 
1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th nation 
to sign the treaty. One mayor development was 
the extension of the territorial sea beyond three 
nautical miles (nm) up to 12 nautical miles. Both 
the Netherlands (in 1985) and Germany (in 1994) 
extended their territorial waters to that limit. 
In the sketch of Fig. 2 the area of the Ems-Dollart 
Treaty can be seen in red, the 3 nm in grey, the 
12 nm in brown, the limit of the continental shelf 
in the disputed area in blue and the eguidistance 
line in orange. 
The limits of the Ems-Dollart Treaty were not 
adjusted to that extension accordingly. Both coun 
tries stated that the lateral limits of the territorial 
sea between 3 and 12 nm have to be defined by 
a later agreement. Thus, the extension in the Ems- 
Dollart estuary has led to an area of unclear legisla 
tion. Even the limits ofthat area were unclear. 
One guestion discussed by lawyers is, whether 
through the extension to 12 nm and the former 
agreement on the limits of the continental shelf 
a »de facto« border of the territorial sea has been 
defined (cf. König and tho Pesch). At least it seems 
to be clear that continental shelf and territorial sea 
can't exist in the same area simultaneously and 
that the extension of the territorial sea from both 
sides were only possible to the limits of the conti 
nental shelf. 
Extended use of the area beyond 3 nm - 
»Windpark Borkum Riffgat« 
The practical impact of that unclear legal status 
was marginal in the beginning and could gener 
ally be solved by the Ems-Dollart-Commission. 
But with the growing importance ofthat area for 
economic use and environmental protection the 
need for a new regulation became more and more 
obvious. 
The excerpt of the nautical chart (Fig. 3) shows 
the wind farm »Riffgat« In green, the continental 
shelf limit in red and the eguidistance line In blue. 
The plans for the wind farm »Riffgat« put even 
more pressure on the legal guestions. As can be 
seen on the chart the wind farm is Intersected 
by the eguidistance line. The eguidistance line is 
composed of points that have the same distance 
from the baseline of neighbouring countries. The 
Netherlands state that this line should be the ba 
sis for the border between 3 and 12 nm. From 
the German point of view the whole wind farm 
is without doubt completely inside their territorial 
sea and that view was supported by an expertise 
from Prof. Rainer Lagonl (Lagonl 2012). The legal 
process of approving the construction ofthe wind 
farm was accomplished according to German law 
in 2011. But still the legal situation remained un 
clear and there will surely be more cases to come 
in practice, where approvals will be reguested and 
second »approval chains« need to be avoided. 
Thus, it became evident that this uncertainty had 
to be eliminated. 
Consultations and negotiations 
Already in the 1980s consultations offered a solu 
tion. There were proposals for a definition ofthe 
boundary of the territorial sea Itself and various 
ideas for an extension of the Ems-Dollart Treaty 
area. One general guestion was how far seawards 
the basic dispute can be legally extended and 
whether or not an eguidistance line could be ap 
plicable. 
There were different views of both countries re 
garding formal negotiations. Especially the gues 
tion whether negotiations could be started with 
out the necessity of reaching a solution ofa border 
as such. In 2012 this guestion was answered posi 
tively from both countries and the formal process 
started in 2013. Already in the same year the gen 
eral outline ofa treaty was settled. The agreement 
was reached in June 2014 and the formal signing 
ofthe treaty was done in October 2014. 
References 
König, Doris; Sebastian tho 
Pesch (2013): Der Festland 
sockelvertrag von 1964 und 
seine Auswirkungen auf die 
deutsch-niederländische 
Küstenmeergrenze; ZaöRV, 
Vol. 73, pp. 483-508 
Lagoni, Rainer (2012): Die 
Abgrenzung des Küsten 
meeres außerhalb der 
Emsmündung; Archiv 
des Völkerrechts, Vol. 50, 
pp. 348-375 
Signing ofthe treaty 
The treaty was signed on board the vessel »Neu- 
werk« on its passage from Emden in Germany to 
Delfzljl In the Netherlands on the 24 October 2014 
by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Federal 
Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, 
and ofthe Netherlands, Bert Koenders (Fig. 4). The 
»Neuwerk« is a multi-purpose vessel, operated by 
the German Water and Shipping Administration 
and is part ofthe German Coast Guard. 
Fig. 3: Excerpt ofthe nautical 
chart showing the wind farm 
»Riffgat« (green), the conti 
nental shelf limit (red) and the 
eguidistance line (blue) 
HN 100 — 02/2015 
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