COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF ADOPTS GUIDELINES; ADDRESSES RULES OF PROCEDURE, CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

Press Release
SEA/1681

COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF ADOPTS GUIDELINES; ADDRESSES RULES OF PROCEDURE, CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

NEW YORK, 28 August (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf provisionally adopted its Scientific and Technical Guidelines as it concluded its latest session on 4 September.

The Guidelines are intended to assist coastal States planning to submit to the Commission data and other material concerning the outer limits of the continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) recognizes coastal States' sovereign rights over the resources up to the natural prolongation of their continental shelf, provided that such limits do not infringe upon other claims of adjacent or opposite coastal States.

The Guidelines have been referred to as the means for the implementation of article 76 of the Convention, which allows State sovereignty over the resources of a shelf that extends beyond 200 nautical miles. Under specific circumstances, and depending on specific criteria, States may extend their sovereign rights over the resources of their shelves in areas beyond 200 miles. The determination of these criteria involves complex technical and scientific data to be provided by such States and considered by the Commission to enable it to make its recommendations.

During the recently concluded session, the Commission formally adopted its rules of procedure, including annexes. It also dealt with concerns that its rules of procedure may be interpreted as adding certain additional responsibilities on States. Finally, it again visited the issue of financing the participation of members from developing countries, and decided on the dates and duration of its next two sessions.

Continental Shelf

The continental shelf is defined in the Convention as the area of the seabed, which because of its geological characteristics, is considered the natural prolongation of the continental, or land mass, beneath the oceans or seas. The Convention gives coastal States sovereign rights to explore and exploit such resources which have been estimated as being of immense value. One United Nations study has estimated the oil reserves on the continental margin at close to 3,000 billion barrels.

Scientific and Technical Guidelines

The Convention on the Law of the Sea requires a State wishing to extend its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles to submit evidence in support of its claim to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which is to make its recommendations on the basis of information submitted by the State. The Scientific and Technical Guidelines prepared by the Commission are intended to clarify the nature, scope and depth of scientific and technical evidence to be examined by the Commission during its consideration of each submission.

At this session, the Commission resumed its work on the Scientific and Technical Guidelines. The Editorial Committee established at the third session continued its work under the chairmanship of Mr. Galo Carrera. As previously agreed, members of the Commission submitted comments on the draft guidelines during the inter-sessional period to the Chairmen of the respective working groups formed during the third session. The reports of the drafting groups, based on the version edited by Mr. Carrera, as well as the drafts submitted to him by the Chairmen of the working groups, were considered by the Committee.

Based on its deliberations, the Editorial Committee revised the draft document and submitted it to the Commission, which provisionally adopted the Scientific and Technical Guidelines (to be issued as CLCS/L.6). It was also agreed that, pending formal adoption at the next session, the Guidelines could be provisionally applied. The parts of the text on which consensus has yet to be reached would be indicated by square brackets and members could propose further draft amendments on the text as a whole. It was further agreed that illustrations contained in annex II and relating to several chapters of the Scientific and Technical Guidelines, would be finalized by the appropriate working group at the next session and therefore were not included in the provisionally adopted text.

Issues presented to the Meeting of States Parties

The Chairman of the Commission reported to the members on the results of the deliberations which took place during the eighth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the issues which he had included in a letter addressed to the President of that Meeting (document SPLOS/31).

He noted that in regard to the issues contained in annexes I and II of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission document (CLCS/3/Rev.1), it had been pointed out that the Rules of Procedure should be drafted in a neutral manner and should be limited to specifying what the Commission can or cannot do. They should not appear to create new rights and obligations for States different from those defined in the Convention. Consequently, at this session, the Commission accepted the proposal of the Chairman to make any required changes in order to make it clear that the rules dealt only with the procedures to be followed by the Commission, and not with the rights and obligations of States.

- 3 - Press Release SEA/1681 14 September 1998

With respect to the issue of confidentiality relating to the responsibilities, obligations and extent, if any, of liability of members of the Commission while dealing with confidential information submitted by a State, the Chairman reported that the eighth Meeting of States Parties had taken note of the opinion by the Legal Counsel entitled "Legal opinion on the applicability of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations to the members of the Commission" (document CLCS/5). In this respect, the issue of the liability of the members of the Commission, in the event of an allegation by a submitting State that a breach of confidentiality had taken place, had been effectively and satisfactorily addressed.

The Commission further considered annex II to the Rules of Procedure. It decided to reconvene the open-ended working group established at its second session to deal with the question of confidentiality. Following a discussion of proposals previously made, the group agreed to incorporate several amendments in annex II and to add a new rule 7 on return of confidential data to the coastal State. The Commission approved the draft amendments agreed upon in the open-ended working group, which enabled it to formally adopt the Rules of Procedure.

On the interpretation of certain terms used in the Convention, namely whether the terms "coastal States" and "States" included States that were not parties to the Convention, the Chairman conveyed to the members of the Commission the opinion, shared by many delegations during the Meeting of States Parties, that the Meeting did not have the competence to provide such a legal interpretation, and that the Commission should request the Legal Counsel for an advisory opinion only if the actual need arose. The Commission decided to accept the recommendation of the Meeting of States Parties to request such a legal opinion only if it was needed.

Financial Assistance to Members from Developing Countries

Regarding assistance in financing the participation and attendance of the members of the Commission from developing countries, the Chairman said that the Secretariat had been requested to explore possible ways and means to provide such assistance, particularly the modalities for establishing a trust fund, on the understanding that the Convention clearly stipulates that States Parties should defray the costs of the members they nominate.

The Commission requested its Chairman to submit a letter to the Meeting of States Parties with a view to seeking a decision on this matter. The members also indicated they expected that this issue would be raised during the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

The Commission decided to hold two sessions in 1999 -- the fifth session for two weeks, from 3 to 14 May 1999, with a view, among other things, to adopting the final text of the Scientific and Technical Guidelines. The sixth session is scheduled to be held from 30 August to 3 September 1999. It also decided that if no submission from a State is received, the Commission will revisit the question of the duration of next year's sessions in light of the actual workload.

- 4 - Press Release SEA/1681 14 September 1998

* *** *