Bangladesh
Maritime Law Law amended keeping provision of punishment for crime and accident at sea
Dhaka, May 4: The law has been amended to provide for imprisonment for 2 to 20 years or a fine of Tk 2 crore to Tk 110 crore or both for crimes and accidents committed at sea. At the same time, according to the amended law, a maritime tribunal will be set up for the proper and speedy trial of crimes committed at sea.
The virtual cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday (May 3rd) gave final approval to the draft 'Territorial Water Zones (Amendment) Act 2021'. The Prime Minister from Ganobhaban and Ministers and State Ministers from the Cabinet Division in the Secretariat were present at the meeting.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam gave this information. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the draft of this law.
The Cabinet Secretary said, "The Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act, enacted in 1974, has not been repealed, but has been a timely reflection of international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclose 1982) and maritime delimitation."
"The Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act, 1974 was approved in principle by the Cabinet on November 25, 2019, with further amendments," he said.
Highlighting the salient features of the draft ‘Territorial Water Zones (Amendment) Act 2021’, the Cabinet Secretary said, ‘The proposed law has given a total of 22 definitions, the previous law had five definitions. A total of 35 sections have been included in the amended law. The previous section was nine.
He further said that since Part-5 of Unclose-1982 referred to 'Exclusive Economic Zone', the proposed Act has used 'Exclusive Economic Zone' instead of 'Economic Zone' and in keeping with this Convention, the proposed Act has included 'Exclusive Economic Zone'. And limits have been amended and provisions relating to various activities in this area have been included.
The Cabinet Secretary also said that since the previous Act did not contain any clause relating to 'Area' and 'High C', matters relating to 'Area' and 'High C' were included in keeping with 'Unclose-1982'.
