8.1 Introduction

In order to settle the scope of the wreck removal regime, two important issues required determination, both of which were subject to great debate. The first was to determine which wrecks would fall within the convention regime; this required a clear definition of “wrecks that pose a hazard”. The second concerned the geographical scope of the convention and its effect on the balance of rights and duties of States that exists in customary and treaty-based international law.1 This debate as to the geographical scope, which finally settled on the EEZ also allowed for a voluntary extension to the territorial sea via an “opt-in” provision. This was not only a hotly debated aspect of the scope of the WRC 2007 but led to a complex shoring-up of the rights and duties of coastal States in the territorial sea.