CROATIA ENTITLED TO UNILATERALLY PROCLAIM EEZ - LAW EXPERTS

ZAGREB, Sept 15 (Hina) - The Presidency of Croatia's Academy of Legal Sciences says Croatia is fully entitled to proclaim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Adriatic, based on international and domestic laws and without prior international negotiations, and that there are no legal reasons to prevent it from doing so. #L# The Presidency held a session on Monday, Academy president Zeljko Horvatic told reporters, adding that the president of the republic, the prime minister, and the president of parliament were informed about its conclusions. The Academy considered the legal aspects of the unilateral proclamation of the EEZ spurred by unfounded and unacceptable doubts about the issue raised in public, said Horvatic. He recalled that under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, unilaterality was the essence of proclaiming an EEZ. The EEZ is a universally accepted sea regime which is part of international law of the sea, which was also confirmed by Slovenia in a note to the U.N. about succession to Yugoslavia's ratification of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, Horvatic said. Under the Convention, coastal countries are entitled to expand jurisdiction at sea outside their territorial waters at a distance not exceeding 200 nautical miles, Horvatic said. According to U.N. data, 124 countries have proclaimed an EEZ to date, and of 24 Mediterranean countries 13 have expanded their jurisdiction outside territorial waters, he recalled. Horvatic said Croatia could proclaim the EEZ without international negotiations. "Negotiations may be conducted with Italy, although not necessarily, given that the epicontinental belt is drawn on all maps as the demarcation area between the two countries. The only restriction for Croatia is that the economic zone mustn't cross the epicontinental zone." Horvatic said the Academy did not consider the political aspects of the proclamation. (hina) ha