Today the Government adopted new regulations on the baselines for determining the extent of the territorial sea around mainland Norway. The baselines along the coast of Norway are also used as a basis for computing the areas of sea beyond these limits that are under Norwegian jurisdiction, including the continental shelf and the economic zone. These regulations replace the Regulations of 12 July 1935 on the fishery limit north of Træna and the Regulations of 18 July 1952 on the fishery limit south of Træna. The new regulations do not deal with the extent of the territorial sea as such.

The new regulations update and make technical adjustments to the baseline points. Since the regulations of 1935 and 1952 were adopted, geodetic methodologies and surveying have been revolutionized. It was therefore necessary to update the baselines using recent physical observations and calculations made possible by modern technology. Recent studies show that these advances also made it possible to simplify the system by reducing the number of baseline points.

The system for calculating the data has also been updated and converted to the geodetic datum WGS 84 (World Geodetic System 1984), also known as EUREF 89. Norway started using EUREF 89 in January 1993, and it is the basis for modern satellite-based navigation.

The regulations will enter into force on 1 July 2002. From the same date the Regulations of 12 July 1935 relating to the fishery limit north of Træna, and the Regulations of 18 July 1952 relating to the fishery limit south of Træna are repealed.