UN General Assembly
1980

174. Permit me to refer briefly to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which concluded its ninth session at Geneva recently. The Conference has been in session since 1973 and before that the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction had reviewed the law of the sea and done preparatory work for about six years. During that long period, understanding was reached on a number of significant issues, including a 12-mile territorial sea, a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, limits of the continental shelf, a regime for marine environment and marine scientific research, and a regime and international machinery for the exploration and exploitation of the international sea-bed area and its resources, which have been recognized and acknowledged by all States as the common heritage of mankind.