The Genesis of the 'Due Regard' Obligations in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The obligation of the coastal state to have due regard to the rights and duties of other states (Law of the Sea Convention (LOSE) Art 56(2)) did not suddenly appear with the LOSC. It was gradually formed corresponding to the increasing recognition of the rights of the coastal state in adjacent maritime zones. The practice prior to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and the travaux preparatoires of the LOSC indicate that this obligation requires something more than the negative obligation not to interfere with the exercise by the coastal State of its rights and competences, and that the 'rights and duties' to which due regard is to be paid are not limited to those explicitly listed in the LOSC, such as the freedoms of navigation, overflight and of laying of submarine cables and pipelines.