Central (C): Germany (CG). GDR Territorial Waters

A file containing documents relating to the status of East German territorial waters. Documents in the file include a report from the British Military Government in West Berlin reporting on an article which had appeared in Neue Justiz, the official periodical of the East German Ministry of Justice. The article had noted that a previous ordinance on the subject had laid down the width of East German territorial waters, but that legal practice, in line with international standards, had recognised this distance as three miles. The article also discusses flights over territorial waters, noting that air and sea boundaries were similar, and that NATO flights over East German airspace were prohibited. The documents also discuss to the right of merchant shipping to cross territorial waters unless they were declared to be closed; and the desirability of peaceful international cooperation in line with the 1958 Geneva Convention.