Italy–Tunisia Delimitation Agreement

The Italy–Tunisia Delimitation Agreement is a 1971 treaty between Italy and Tunisia in which the two countries agreed to delimit a maritime boundary between them in the continental shelf.[1] The text of the treaty sets out a complex boundary in the Strait of Sicily representing an equidistant line between Sicily and Tunisia, with the exception of Pantelleria and the Pelagie Islands (Lampedusa, Linosa and Lampione) treated as Italian exclaves in the Tunisian side with specific arcs of territorial sea.[2][3]

The maritime border between Italy and Tunisia

The boundary terminates just short of an equidistant line between Malta and the Italian Pelagie Islands and the westernmost point of the boundary line forms a maritime tripoint with Algeria.[4] On 23 January 1975, the countries by agreement added supplemental minutes to the treaty, including a map of the boundary and 32 individual coordinate points that define it. It came into force on 6 December 1978 after it was ratified by both countries.

The treaty was signed in Tunis on 20 August 1971 and its full name is the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Tunisia and the Government of the Italian Republic concerning the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between the two Countries.