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Is the Channel Tunnel (the railway tunnel linking Great Britain and France) dug under the seabed considered international waters, or is it always under UK or French territorial waters?

EDIT: as some people noticed this question is probably not very travel-related. If modersators want to close it, please do it. The reason for the question is US Tax law related, and probably I'm better off asking in MoneyExchange.SE, I guess.

Nean Der Thal
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user180940
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1 Answers1

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The inside of the tunnel isn't in anybody's waters, and the two nations have established an agreement on such matters, the Protocol concerning frontier controls and policing, cooperation in criminal justice, public safety and mutual assistance relating to the Channel fixed link. It provides for each state to exercise jurisdiction in "control zones" on each other's territory (e.g. border control areas). The frontier itself is set at the mid-point of the tunnel by the Treaty of Canterbury (the 1986 one, the 1416 was about an alliance against France).

Within the tunnel itself, Article 38 of the Protocol says that each state has jurisdiction on its territory, including the parts of the tunnels on their side of the border, but provides for either state to have jurisdiction in a number of cases, such as where nobody is sure where an offense happened, and gives priority to whichever state catches someone first.

The frontier is marked inside the service tunnel.

As for the waters above the tunnel, this map indicates the narrow area of the Strait of Dover lies entirely within either UK or French territorial waters.

Zach Lipton
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    As a sidenote, the British/French TV series The Tunnel is a crime drama about a serial killer who leaves bodies on the tunnel's mid-point. It's an adaptation of the Danish/Swedish series The Bridge, where the body is left in the middle of the Øresund Bridge. Similar adaptations were done for the US-Mexico border and the Estonia-Russia border. – Zach Lipton Apr 08 '18 at 19:10
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    That is border line bad – happybuddha Apr 08 '18 at 22:40
  • @Zach. Ugh. I usually seem to hate remakes with a passion: they are never as good as the original. It is (relatively) easy to dump a body from a car on a road -- even if it has to be carefully arranged -- but to use "improbable" to describe arranging that in a rail tunnel is an understatement. [I think it was the very first episode of The Bridge; it got me hooked, anyway.] – Andrew Leach Apr 08 '18 at 23:18
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    What side of the road do they drive on inside the service tunnel? That would depend on what rules-of-the-road apply, and thus French or English law, right? – Dai Apr 08 '18 at 23:48
  • @AndrewLeach it was the service tunnel, not one of the rail tunnels. – phoog Apr 09 '18 at 00:35
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    @Dai that's why the centerline was removed there. It is where you crossover. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Apr 09 '18 at 00:45
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    @phoog Oh. Yes, I suppose my comment doesn't make clear I thought that was the case. Anyway: it's still *way* harder to get to the service tunnel in the Channel Tunnel than the carriageway of a road bridge. – Andrew Leach Apr 09 '18 at 01:13
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    Re your last paragraph, note that UNCLOS III allows that all shipping may make "innocent passage" through territorial waters such the Strait. This includes even military ships, and the British Royal Navy (and, presumably, the French Navy) regularly escorts Russian warships through the Channel. "Innocent passage" basically means just passing through, without fishing, dumping or military action, and can be suspended for national security reasons. – David Richerby Apr 09 '18 at 10:03
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    That sure looks like a Belgian flag shown on the photograph in the service tunnel, not a French one, are you sure? – Mishax Apr 09 '18 at 14:20
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    @Mishax It is a photo with a very yellow cast. The flag is blue-white-red, not black-yellow-red. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Apr 09 '18 at 14:51
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    @Dai, the service tunnel isn't a public right-of-way, so you drive on the side of the road that Eurotunnel tells you to drive on. – Mark Apr 10 '18 at 00:01
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    @Studoku you do know that everybody would collide if they did as you say, yes? ;-) – can-ned_food Apr 10 '18 at 01:39
  • I doubt any jurisdiction is ceded in the control zones; border officers are just authorized to conduct border inspections. If someone commits a crime in one of those zones, at least one not related to the border crossing, they'll be prosecuted in the country where the zone is located, not in the country whose officers are operating in the zone. – phoog Feb 03 '20 at 03:19
  • @phoog "The officers of the adjoining State shall, in exercise of their national powers, be permitted in the control zone situated in the host State to detain or arrest persons in accordance with the laws and regulations relating to frontier controls of the adjoining State or persons sought by the authorities of the adjoining State. These officers shall also be permitted to conduct such persons to the territory of the adjoining State" seems to amount to providing significant jurisdiction in the control zones. – Zach Lipton Feb 03 '20 at 07:10
  • @phoog I'd agree that there's some openness if someone commits a crime totally unrelated to the border crossing (and isn't otherwise wanted by either country). If someone goes through the controls for the Eurostar at Gare du Nord and then robs the passengers in the waiting room, presumably that would be handled by the French authorities, since that's pretty unrelated to the "laws and regulations relating to frontier controls" and it would be weird to otherwise take them to the UK for that crime. – Zach Lipton Feb 03 '20 at 07:15