The judgment is of great significance, especially since it constitutes further recognition of Mauritius as the only State that has sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia.
Under this judgment of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), it is also confirmed that archipelagic baselines can be delimited from Blenheim Reef with a view to establishing the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Mauritius. As a result, he gave significant weight to Blenheim Reef in the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and the Maldives.