The

impact on the Law of the Sea Convention on the roles and activities of the RAN in meeting Australian Government requirements Commander M.H. Miller, RAN The primary role of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is to maintain the territorial sovereignty of Australia. In the case of the ADF’s maritime forces, principally the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), this involves maintaining sovereign rights in the waters surrounding the Australian continent and offshore estate. In the last decade, the single biggest factor impacting maritime jurisdiction has been the entry into force in November 1994 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (LOSC) and the establishments of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). In Australia’s case, the addition of an EEZ has meant that the maritime area of responsibility has grown into 16 million square kilometres of ocean that shares jurisdictional boundaries with seven other coastal states.1 This has had a direct impact upon the RAN’s peacetime policing of the maritime approaches, but it also affects the RAN in other ways. Specifically, the interpretation of the LOSC by other coastal states impacts on the way in which the RAN conducts its strategic tasks in suppor