Water rules

A basic outline for Macau’s new territorial waters management law will be made available to city’s residents for consultation between November 15 and December 14, according to government representatives at a press conference yesterday.
It was also announced that a new legal framework for the current territorial waters under MSAR control, amounting to 85 square kilometres, is expected to be put up for debate in the Legislative Assembly (AL) after the general elections in 2017.
The Chinese central government granted additional territorial waters to the control of the MSAR in December of last year, with the local government stating in May of this year that a legal framework for the new water resources would be defined through cooperation between the Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA), the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ), the Macau Economic Services (DSE), the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) and the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO).
The announcement comes after Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On travelled to Beijing at the beginning of the month to discuss the management of the city’s new territorial waters and their future development plan with Minister of Transport, Li Xiao Peng.
During the press conference, it was also stated that the new territorial waters would continue to be under the management of the DSAMA and the Macao Customs Service. The Free Travel Yacht Scheme, allowing yachts to travel from Mainland China to Macau and set to come into effect in June of 2017, will also come under the existing legislation for recreational ships in the MSAR waters.

Maritime economy
The territorial waters law proposal includes an outline for a planned exploration of the MSAR water resources including: perfecting existing legislation for maritime areas, establishing maritime zones, promoting environmentally friendly exploration of water resources and the sustainable development of a diversified local economy.
In the section of the law proposal relating to the economic development of the MSAR water resources, it is defined that the future legislation will focus on incentivising scientific and technological research of water resources in order to better assess how to develop the maritime economy, while promoting the creation of new maritime industries in the tourism and transport sectors.
Expansion of the gaming industry in any future land reclamation zones in the territory’s waters has not been allowed by the Chinese central government.
“We want a base law and judicial framing in order to better manage the 85 square kilometre area. We need to follow the national strategies and rulings for maritime traffic and water areas management. After the public consultation of the basic law for the water management, more detailed legislation will be presented,” stated Carmen Maria Chung, Legislative Department Chief at the DSAJ.