Innocent passage is a concept in the law of the sea that allows for a vessel to pass through the territorial sea (and certain grandfathered internal waters) of another state, subject to certain restrictions. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Article 19 defines innocent passage as: "# Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State. Such passage shall take place in conformity with this Convention and with other rules of international law. Underwater vehicles like submarines are required by the treaty to surface and show their flags during innocent passage. Innocent passage applies to the entire territorial sea, up to at most 12 nmi from coastal baseline. Transit passage is a similar right that applies only to straits that divide two areas of international waters; it has different requirements for transiting vessels. Freedom of navigation is a general right enjoyed in international waters; "freedom of navigation operations" enforces this right, in some cases to counter a claim by a sovereign state that certain waters are territorial.

History

Initially, the right of innocent passage in the current sense began to take shape in the 1840s (as a customary rule) with the development of world trade and the emergence of steamships navigation, for which it was economically significant to use the shortest possible route often through the coastal waters of a foreign state. The law was codified in the 1958 Geneva Convention and affirmed in the 1982 UNCLOS.

Suspension

The coastal state may suspend the innocent passage regime of all foreign ships without discrimination, except in the international straits, where the regime is non-suspendable.

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