Hot Pursuit

Hot pursuit is the coastal state’s right under UNCLOS Article 111 to chase and arrest a foreign ship on the high seas where it has good reason to believe the ship violated its laws while in its internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, EEZ, or over the continental shelf. The pursuit must begin while the ship or a boat from it is within the relevant zone, follow a signal to stop, and be continuous; it ends the moment the pursued ship enters the territorial sea of its own or a third state.