Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I have sympathy with the noble Earl, because these are complex areas. I reiterate that I have an extremely useful note from the Box on this highly specific legal matter. There are rights under UNCLOS to regulate foreign vessels to protect the environment, but that has to be balanced case by case against the innocent rights of passage that the convention sets out. The significance of Clause 137(4)—this is why I was emphatic about it in my original reply—is that it identifies the international obligations that we have and need to observe.