Finance Act 1986

108 The on-shore/off-shore boundary

(1) For the purposes of the enactments relating to oil taxation, land lying between the landward boundary of the territorial sea and the shoreline of the United Kingdom (as denned below) shall be treated as part of the bed of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom and any reference in those enactments to the territorial sea or the subsoil beneath it shall be construed accordingly.

(2) Any reference to the United Kingdom in the enactments relating to oil taxation, where that reference is a reference to a geographical area, shall be treated as a reference to the United Kingdom exclusive of the land referred to in subsection (1) above and of any waters for the time being covering that land.

(3) In this section—

(a) "the landward boundary of the territorial sea" means the line for the time being ordered by Her Majesty in Council to be the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured; and

(b) "the shoreline of the United Kingdom" means, subject to subsection (4) below, the high-water line along the coast, including the coast of all islands comprised in the United Kingdom.

(4) In the case of waters adjacent to a bay, as denned in the Territorial Waters Order in Council 1964, the shoreline means—

(a) if the bay has only one mouth and the distance between the high-water lines of the natural entrance points of the bay does not exceed 5,000 metres, a straight line joining those high-water lines;

(b) if, because of the presence of islands, the bay has more than one mouth and the distances between the high-water lines of the natural entrance points of each mouth added together do not exceed 5,000 metres, a series of straight lines across each of the mouths drawn so as to join those high-water lines; and

(c) if neither paragraph (a) nor paragraph (b) above applies, a straight line 5,000 metres in length drawn from high-water line to high-water line within the bay in such a manner as to enclose the maximum area of water that is possible with a line of that length.

(5) If, by virtue of this section, it becomes necessary at any time to establish the high-water line at any place, it shall be taken to be the line which, on the current Admiralty chart showing that place, is depicted as "the coastline"; and for this purpose.—

(a) an Admiralty chart means a chart published under the superintendence of the Hydrographer of the Navy;

(b) if there are two or more Admiralty charts of different scales showing the place in question and depicting the coastline, account shall be taken only of the largest scale chart; and

(c) subject to paragraph (b) above, the current Admiralty chart at any time is that most recently published before that time.

(6) In this section "the enactments relating to oil taxation" means Part I of the [1975 c. 22.] Oil Taxation Act 1975 and any enactment which is to be construed as one with that Part.

(7) This section shall be deemed to have come into force on 1st April 1986.