The product “Maritime limits and boundaries” (French: “Délimitations maritimes”) gathers all the elements used for the definition of the maritime spaces under the French sovereignty or jurisdiction through the world. Those spaces are defined by the Ordonnance n° 2016-1687 of 8 December 2016 relating to maritime spaces under sovereignty or jurisdiction of the French Republic. This ordonnance is the transcription in the French legislation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was signed in Montego Bay (Jamaica) on 10 December 1982 end ratified by France on 11 April 1996. These elements of maritime limits and boundaries come from the limits computed by Shom on the basis of International Law, from the international agreements relating to maritime boundary and the technical conventions ratified between France and other States, from the decisions of international juridical bodies, from the recommendations of the Commission of the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNO) or from unilateral claims from France in the absence of agreement. The elements are divided into seven themes: 1- Straight baselines 2- Outer limits of the territorial sea (12 nautical miles) 3- Outer limits of the contiguous zone (24 nautical miles) 4- Outer limits of the exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles) 5- Maritime boundaries established by a bilateral agreement or decided by an international juridical body 6- Maritime boundaries unilaterally claimed by France in the absence of agreement 7- Outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles December 2022 version

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 "Sovereignty and jurisdiction maritime spaces of France" product contains the areas of sovereignty and jurisdiction maritime spaces of France all around the world.<br /><br /> It is constituted of 2D areas objects split into four categories :<br /> - the territorial sea (from baselines to a distance of 12 nautical miles or to maritime boundaries with neighbouring countries);<br /> - the contiguous zone (from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical miles from the baselines or to maritime boundaries with neighbouring countries);<br /> - the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (from 12 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles from the baselines or to maritime boundaries with neighbouring countries);<br /> - the continental shelf over the 200 nautical miles limit (from 200 nautical miles from the baselines to the limits recommended by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) or to the maritime boundaries with neighbouring countries).<br /> Internal waters, which constitute a space of sovereignty beyond the baselines, are not included in the "Sovereignty and jurisdiction maritime spaces of France" product.<br /> The "Sovereignty and jurisdiction maritime spaces of France" product may not be considered as an enforceable right. Only the “Maritime limits and boundaries” product, that can be displayed and interrogated on the website data.shom.fr (maritime boundaries category) and also downloaded on the French national portal of maritime limits (https://maritimelimits.gouv.fr), may be considered so.<br /><br /> December 2022 version.

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 exclusive economic zone is adjacent to the territorial sea and extends to a maximum distance of 200 nautical miles calculated from the baselines. This is a space in which the coastal State do not practice its entire sovereignty but only the following rights: - sovereign rights over the water column, the bed and subsoil for the purposes of: - exploration, exploitation, conservation and management of natural resources, whether biological or not; - exploration and exploitation of the zone for economic purposes, such as the production of energy from water, currents and wind; - jurisdiction concerning the following fields: - construction and use of artificial islands, facilities and works; - marine scientific research; - protection and preservation of the marine environment. Apart from the rights and obligations of the coastal States cited above, the exclusive economic zone is a space open to the exercise by any other State of the freedoms set down in the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) (navigation, overflight, etc.), within the limits set by the Convention.

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.

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.

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.

In the Law of the Sea, a straight baseline is composed by a loxodrome connecting two points of the low-water line or low-tide elevations if there is a lighthouse or similar permanent infrastructure on them. The conditions to draw such lines are defined in Article 7 of UNCLOS. The straight baselines are part of the baselines of a coastal State below which the internal waters are defined. Those straight baselines, in addition with the normal baseline, compose the inner limit of the territorial sea and are the basis of the computations of the outer limits of other maritime spaces defined by UNCLOS. They are also composed of the closure line for bays and rivers in compliance with Aricles 9 and 10 of UNCLOS. The objects of the theme "Straight baselines" result from Shom computations and are published by decree of the French Republic.

In the absence of a maritime boundary agreement with a neighbouring State, the French Republic can unilateraly claim a delimitation. This boundary has indeed a provisional aspect pending the ratification of a boundary agreement. The theme "Maritime limits unilaterally claimed" gathers those limits unilaterally claimed by France. Some of those elkements are published by decree.