Agreement between Italy and Yugoslavia concerning the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between the two Countries in the Adriatic Sea*8 January 1968 ITA-YUG1968CS_2-1Download On January 8, 1968, the Governments of Italy and Yugoslavia signed an Agreement establishing a continental shelf boundary in the Adriatic Sea. Ratifications were exchanged and the Agreement came into force on January 21, 1970. Yugoslavia is a party to the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf. Italy is not a party to the Convention, but has enacted legislation concerning jurisdiction over the continental shelf (Act No. 613 of July 21, 1967, Law for Exploration and Production of Liquid and Gaseous Hydrocarbons in the Territorial Sea and Continental Shelf). Montenegro, another of the Yugoslav successor states, inherited a very small portion of the continental shelf boundary that Yugoslavia had established with Italy in 1968. Assuming an equidistance tripoint with Croatia, Montenegro's maritime boundary with Italy would begin just south of point 42 from the former Yugoslav–Italy boundary and then proceed to its terminus at point 43. There are approximately six nautical miles of undelimited maritime space between Italy and Montenegro from point 43 to the tripoint with Albania, which has not yet been formally established. The important feature of this Agreement is the method of jurisdictional delimitation of the shelf employed in view of the presence of small islands located many miles from the mainland near the middle of the sea. If the basic formula for delimiting the CSB set forth in the Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf had been strictly followed, Italy would have been placed in a disadvantageous position vis-a-vis Yugoslavia in delimiting the continental shelf boundary. The Yugoslav islands of Jabuka, Kajola and Pelagruz would have dislocated the CSB had the equidistance principle been literally utilized. This potential inequity was offset by the two concessions made by the Yugoslavs to the Italians, the latter responding with a lesser concession to the Yugoslavs. The northernmost Yugoslav concession totaled 1,680 square kilometers, the southernmost 1,400 square kilometers. The islands used in determining the new boundary were those larger islands located closer to the Yugoslav coast. Around the islands of Kajola and Pelagruz, the Yugoslavs conceded to Italy the area that was outside the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of the respective islands. The Italian concession of 416 square kilometers negates the influence of the island of Pianosa and the mainland was used in determining the continental shelf boundary. The areal exchange was of the ratio of about 7.4 to 1 with the Yugoslavs contributing the larger amount.This Agreement is an example of what has been achieved through negotiation when strict application of the equidistant principle results in a disproportionate division of the shelf between two countries as a consequence of the random location of small islands. Italy–Montenegro Maritime Boundary Montenegrin Exclusive economic Zone Maritime boundaries in the AdriaticIn the period following the WW II there were just three coastal states in the Adriatic.The total of 3737 km of coast was shared between former Yugoslavia…
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