Continental Shelf Order 2018.

This Order delineates certain boundaries (outer limits) of the continental shelf of New Zealand recommended by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf pursuant to Article 76(8) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). While Article 76 provides that limits established by a coastal State on the basis of the Commission’s recommendation are final and binding, this is without prejudice to delimitation between States with opposite or adjacent coasts. New Zealand has yet to complete all such continental shelf boundary negotiations, including ones with Fiji and Tonga. Other boundaries, which were agreed by treaty between New Zealand and Australia, were delineated in the Continental Shelf (Australia) Order 2005. Where boundaries of the continental shelf have not been delineated by an Order under section 2(2) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964, the relevant boundary is the greater of: 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of New Zealand is measured; and the outer edge of New Zealand’s continental margin.