The territorial sea extends from the baselines to a maximum distance of 12 nautical miles, calculated from the baselines. The State has full sovereignty over the bed and subsoil, surface and underlying water column and air space. Sovereignty shall not, however, hinder the right of innocent passage of which the ships of all States benefit in the territorial sea.

The combined error grid of the SIO V31 gravity anomaly model (D. T. Sandwell, H. Harper, B. Tozer et al., Gravity field recovery from geodetic altimeter missions, Advances in Space Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2019.09.011) is computed with a method described in a paper submitted to Earth and Space Science (AGU). The model’s extension is North Atlantic.

The combined error grid of the SIO V31 gravity anomaly model (D. T. Sandwell, H. Harper, B. Tozer et al., Gravity field recovery from geodetic altimeter missions, Advances in Space Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2019.09.011) is computed with a method described in a paper submitted to Earth and Space Science (AGU). The model’s extension is North Atlantic.

The theme "Agreed maritime boundaries" contains the delineation limits between maritime spaces under sovereignty or jurisdiction of France et neighbouring States which are established by ratification of a boundary agreement or by a decision of an arbitral tribunal or an international legal body entitled to deal with cases relating to the Law of the Sea.

Compilation of marine gravity surveys acquired in the Northeast Atlantic by Shom between 2001 and 2016. These surveys were compiled to perform a quantification of the error of the gravity anomaly models derived from satellite altimetry. This dataset represents more than 22,000 measurement points distributed in 9 ascii survey files sampled at 1 kilometer. The file’s format is as follows: longitude latitude Gravity_anomaly error line_label.

In compliance with Article 33 of UNCLOS, the outer limit of the contiguous zone is located at 24 nautical miles from the baselines. The objects of the theme "Outer limit of the contiguous zone" result from Shom computations and are compliant with Article 10 of the French Order No 2016-1687 of 8 December 2016.

In compliance with Article 3 of UNCLOS, the outer limit of the territorial sea is located at 12 nautical miles from the baselines. It corresponds to the inner limit of the contiguous and exclusive economic zones. The objects of the theme "Outer limit of the territorial sea" result from Shom computations and are published by decree of the French Republic. Some of those limits are note published by decree yet.

Title V of Volume IX of rural and sea fisheries laws defines the measures related to Overseas territories. Articles R951-14 and R953-5 in particular define for specific Overseas territories a limit located at 100 nautical miles from the in force baselines. Inside this limit, fisheries are limited to the ships registered in the ports of those Overseas territories, except dispensation allowed by State. Those restrictions are not applied to ships registered in the European Union which are traditionally fishing in those waters, as long as they do not exceed the fisheries effort which is traditionally applied.

The United Nations Convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) introduced a new definition of the continental shelf which can extend “to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.” Coastal States can thus have a continental shelf of 200 nautical miles even in the absence of a geomorphological continental shelf, and a continental shelf extending beyond that limit where the presence of certain geomorphological and sedimentary criteria have been recognized by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The rights coastal State can exercise over the continental shelf are specified in Part VI of the UNCLOS. These rights are sovereign and exclusive over the seabed and subsoil, for exploration and exploitation of natural mineral, fossil and biological resources. The French authorities also hold competence recognized by the UNCLOS for: - construction, operation and use of artificial islands and installations; - marine scientific research; - issuing consent for the course of any pipeline; - issuing consent for the course of cables installed or used for exploitation of the continental shelf or of its resources.

The Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of European Parliament and Council of 11 December 2013, in its second paragraph of Article 5, authorises Member States to establish coastal waters along its coasts. Those areas enable member States to restrain fisheries to specific species to specific Member States following precise rules (quotas, limited fishery season). The description of the French coastal waters is established in Part 6 of Appendix 1. The coastal waters extend from 6 nautical miles from in force baselines to 12 nautical miles from in force baselines. Only portions of the French coasts are concerned.