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cables upon receiving due notice of their location and the intention to repair
or replace them.
Article 52
Right of innocent passage
1. Subject to article 53 and without prejudice to article 50, ships of all
States enjoy the right of innocent passage through archipelagic waters, in
accordance with Part II, section 3.
2. The archipelagic State may, without discrimination in form or in fact
among foreign ships, suspend temporarily in specified areas of its
archipelagic waters the innocent passage of foreign ships if such suspension
is essential for the protection of its security. Such suspension shall take effect
only after having been duly published.
Article 53
Right of archipelagic sea lanes passage
1. An archipelagic State may designate sea lanes and air routes
thereabove, suitable for the continuous and expeditious passage of foreign
ships and aircraft through or over its archipelagic waters and the adjacent
territorial sea.
2. All ships and aircraft enjoy the right of archipelagic sea lanes
passage in such sea lanes and air routes.
3. Archipelagic sea lanes passage means the exercise in accordance
with this Convention of the rights of navigation and overflight in the normal
mode solely for the purpose of continuous, expeditious and unobstructed
transit between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone and
another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone.
4. Such sea lanes and air routes shall traverse the archipelagic waters
and the adjacent territorial sea and shall include all normal passage routes
used as routes for international navigation or overflight through or over
archipelagic waters and, within such routes, so far as ships are concerned, all
normal navigational channels, provided that duplication of routes of similar
convenience between the same entry and exit points shall not be necessary.
5. Such sea lanes and air routes shall be defined by a series of
continuous axis lines from the entry points of passage routes to the exit
points. Ships and aircraft in archipelagic sea lanes passage shall not deviate
more than 25 nautical miles to either side of such axis lines during passage,
provided that such ships and aircraft shall not navigate closer to the coasts
than 10 per cent of the distance between the nearest points on islands
bordering the sea lane.
6. An archipelagic State which designates sea lanes under this article
may also prescribe traffic separation schemes for the safe passage of ships
through narrow channels in such sea lanes.
7. An archipelagic State may, when circumstances require, after giving
due publicity thereto, substitute other sea lanes or traffic separation schemes
for any sea lanes or traffic separation schemes previously designated or
prescribed by it.
8. Such sea lanes and traffic separation schemes shall conform to
generally accepted international regulations.
9. In designating or substituting sea lanes or prescribing or substituting
traffic separation schemes, an archipelagic State shall refer proposals to the