Article113 of the UNCLOS specifically mandates obligations for State Parties to adopt certain legal provisions in their domestic laws which penalize the willful or negligent damaging of submarine cable systems. Becoming a full State Party to UNCLOS thus requires that the joining economy enact required domestic law on submarine cables to be in compliance with the treaty.
A number of economies have already enacted this domestic legislation to comply with
UNCLOS. Of the economies surveyed in 2012, six economies reported that they had enacted
legislation that specifically deals with submarine cables and transposes the provisions in
UNCLOS regarding submarine cables (especially establishing criminal offences for the intentional
or negligent damaging of submarine cables) into domestic law (see Table 1). The remaining
economies which are already full State Parties should promptly enact the required provisions of
domestic law about cable protection in accordance with Article 113. Member economies would
then be assured of the compliance of fellow full State Parties to establishing the same minimum
level of submarine cable protection..