Territorial extent United Kingdom Commencement 1 July 1999 | Made 13 April 1999 Made under Scotland Act 1998 | |
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The Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999 is a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom, defining "the boundaries between waters which are to be treated as internal waters or territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Scotland and those which are not." It was introduced in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998, which established the devolved Scottish Parliament.
Contents
Defining jurisdictions
The territorial waters thus defined as Scottish waters come under the jurisdiction of Scots law, and are also used for defining the area of operation of Marine Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and other Scottish Government agencies and public bodies. This is, for example, of importance to the Scottish fishing industry, the North Sea oil industry, and in the competing claims for the resources of the Rockall Trough.
The territorial waters thus defined as not being Scottish waters come under the jurisdiction of either English law or Northern Ireland law. Therefore, because it defines the territorial limits of the three separate jurisdictions, it comprises a piece of constitutional law in the constitution of the United Kingdom.
Changes
The law effectively curved the maritime jurisdictional boundary between Scotland and England north. Previously, the boundary was a straight line heading east across the North Sea from Berwick. The movement of the line meant that some oil fields previously in Scottish waters were now under English jurisdiction. Professor Alex Kemp of the University of Aberdeen argued that the movement of the line did not make much difference from an economic perspective, "because [these] are just a handful of fields, and [no longer] very important ones".