The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea was prepared during the period 1988-1994 by a group of legal and naval experts participating in their personal capacity in a series of Round Tables convened by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law. During the years, the Manual has been described by many experts as “the only comprehensive international instrument that has been drafted on the law of naval warfare since 1913”.

The Manual is a codification of customary international law, an integration of existing legal standards for naval conflict with the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocol I of 1977. The Manual is divided into six Parts, each discussing a different section of the international law:

• Part I “General Provisions“;
• Part II “Regions of Operations“;
• Part III “Basic Rules and Target Discrimination“;
• Part IV “Methods and Means of Warfare at Sea“;
• Part V “Measures Short of Attack Interception, Visit, Search, Diversion and Capture“;
• Part VI “Protected Persons, Medical Transports and Medical Aircraft”.