COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF CONCLUDES SECOND SESSION
Press Release
SEA/1570
COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF CONCLUDES SECOND SESSION
19970919Adopts Rules of Procedure, Decides on Future Work
NEW YORK, 18 September (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf concluded its second session on 12 September, having adopted its rules of procedure and dealt with such issues as its modus operandi and the technical guidelines for data and information to be included in submissions by a coastal State. The session, which was held at United Nations Headquarters, began on 2 September.
The Commission is the body mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to make recommendations to coastal States who claim that their continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles from their coasts. The Convention entered into force on 16 November 1994.
The continental shelf is the undersea extension of a coastal State's land territory. It is defined in the Convention as the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond a coastal State's territorial sea, throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.
The Commission was elected by the States parties to the Convention at their seventh meeting, held at Headquarters from 10 to 14 March. The Commission is the last of the three bodies created by the Convention to be established. The others are the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Rules of Procedure
At its first session, the Commission had before it draft rules of procedure prepared by the Secretariat, dealing with such questions as the election of officers, conduct of business, and establishment of subsidiary bodies. It also addresses more substantive matters, particularly submissions by coastal States and issues relating to the delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts.
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In his statement on the work of the Commission's first session, the Chairman, Yuri Kazmin (Russian Federation), noted that those rules of procedure which were considered and adopted without amendment would not be subject to a second reading. He singled out for special mention rules dealing with the question of confidentiality and with the delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts.
The Commission, after considering the rules not adopted at its first session, adopted a number of them with amendments that had been proposed. However, several rules required further consideration. These were: rule 40, dealing with the composition of a subcommission to consider a submission by a coastal State; rule 44, dealing with the question of delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts; and the set of draft rules 49 to 53, dealing with the issue of confidentiality and protection from possible financial liability of members of the Commission arising from potential allegation of breaches of the rules of confidentiality.
The Commission decided to set up an open-ended working group to deal with the question of confidentiality and with the composition of the subcommissions which are to deal with a submission. On the delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts (rule 44), it was decided that the Chairman would undertake consultations among members and submit a draft rule to the Commission for consideration. As a result of the consultations on rule 44, a compromise text was agreed upon. It would deal with a submission by a coastal State which might involve a dispute between States with opposite or adjacent coasts, or other cases of unresolved land or maritime disputes. The redrafted text is reflected in the rules. An annex setting out detailed procedures on this issue was also agreed upon and is included in the document as annex I.
The Working Group, which was set up to deal with the two other outstanding issues in the rules of procedure, recommended to the Commission an amendment to paragraph 2 of rule 54 dealing with the consideration of the submission. It also decided to include rules 49 to 52, dealing with the issue of confidentiality and privileges and immunities of members of the Commission, in an annex. The Commission approved the recommendations of the working group. It then adopted the rules of procedures, including the amendments to rule 54, and agreed with the proposed text of annex II.
On the annexes attached to the rules, the Commission decided that annex I would be adopted only after it had been considered by the meeting of States parties. With respect to annex II, the Commission decided that it would only be adopted if and when the issue of the privileges and immunities of its members, in dealing with confidential material and in the exercise of all their other functions, is resolved positively. The Chairman was requested
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to transmit the two annexes to the meeting of States parties through its President and, if possible, to attend the meeting of States parties to present these issues.
Issues Addressed to States Parties Meeting
In addition to the issues contained in the annexes to the rules of procedure, the Commission decided to submit the following issues to the meeting of States parties of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for clarification and/or possible recommendation:
(a) In light of article 4 of annex II to the Convention, do the terms "a coastal State" and "a State" include a non-State party to the Convention, or do they only refer to a coastal State or a State which is a State party to the Convention? In the view of the Commission, this clarification is necessary for the application of rule 43 of the rules of procedure;
(b) In light of rule 49 and annex II to the rules of procedure, dealing with the question of confidentiality -- and since the Convention does not provide for privileges and immunities for the members of the Commission -- how would such members be protected from possible financial liability resulting from potential allegations of breaches of the rules on confidentiality? The Commission felt that some provision would have to be made to give members immunity from any legal process in the performance of their functions if they were called upon to deal with confidential or proprietary data. The Commission formulated the above-mentioned annex II with a view to addressing this matter;
(c) The Commission would request that the meeting of States parties consider a recommendation for the establishment of a trust fund to be administered by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. This fund would be used to meet the travel and accommodation expenses of members of the Commission from developing countries.
Modus Operandi, Technical Guidelines
The Commission took up the consideration of these two issues. Informal proposals on both issues are contained in a study prepared by the Secretariat on the functions and scientific and technical needs of the Commission in assessing the submission of a coastal State. It was decided that two documents should emanate from the study: (a) "Modus operandi", which will deal with the internal functioning of the Commission; and (b) the technical guidelines with respect to the data and information to be included in the submission by a coastal State.
Following a general discussion of the provisions of the modus operandi, the Commission established an open-ended working group to deal with the matter and to draft appropriate provisions accordingly. The working group organized
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itself into three sub-groups, and the conclusions of the sub-groups were combined into a single document by the working group and was presented to the Commission. The provisions recommended by the working group were adopted by the Commission.
The Commission also decided to set up six working groups to deal with the technical guidelines with respect to the data and information to be included in the submission by a coastal State. Four of the six working groups were to deal with specific subject areas and two would work on inter- disciplinary problems arising from the application of article 76 of the Convention. Article 76 of the Convention defines the outer limits of the continental shelf of a coastal State. The Commission further decided that each group would undertake some work during the inter-sessional period.
Privileges and Immunities of Commission Members
During the session, the Commission asked the Legal Counsel of the United Nations to advise it as to whether article VI of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations could apply to its members as experts on mission of the United Nations, and whether the definitions of "coastal State" and "State", in accordance with article 4 of annex II of the Convention, included coastal States and States not parties to the Convention. The Legal Counsel, in addressing the Commission on these two issues, stated that the views he was expressing were very preliminary and that further detailed research would be required before the requested advice could be provided.
Based on the statement of the Legal Counsel, the Commission decided that article VI of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations shall apply mutatis mutandis to the members of the Commission, as experts on mission for the United Nations. It also decided to ask the Legal Counsel to provide it with a formal legal opinion as to the applicability of the above-mentioned Convention to the members of the Commission.
Future Sessions
The Commission decided to hold its third session for a period of two weeks, from 4 to 15 May 1998, and the fourth session for a period of one week, from 31 August to 4 September 1998.
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