PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF LAW OF SEA TRIBUNAL

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF LAW OF SEA TRIBUNAL

Final judgement in the first dispute brought before the Tribunal of the Law of the Sea would be delivered within two years of the actual incident leading to the case, and within 18 months of the case being brought to the Tribunal, its President, Thomas Mensah, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon. Those who might have followed international litigation would recognize that as being close to the world record, if not an actual record, he added.

Mr. Mensah said that was evidence of the Tribunal's deliberate decision to make its procedures efficient, cost-effective and expeditious. It was hoped that when the judgement was given, the time taken to deliver it, as well as the merits and competence of that decision, would show quite clearly that the establishment of the Tribunal by the Convention on the Law of the Sea had been fully justified.

He said the first case had been brought on 11 November 1997 -- within the first year since the establishment of the Tribunal -- and judgement had been made on 4 December. International courts usually waited from three to five years, or even longer, before getting their first case. The case in question related to one of the special features of the Tribunal -- the prompt release of a vessel. That vessel, flying the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, and supplying bunker oil to fishing vessels operating off the coast of West Africa, had been arrested by Guinean officials, allegedly for smuggling oil.

The vessel and the flag-State had contended that the vessel was doing no more than exercising the traditional right of freedom of the seas, Mr. Mensah said. The flag-State had brought the case to the Tribunal, asking it to order the release of the vessel and its crew, some of whom had been injured during the arrest. The Tribunal had to deal with the case, within three weeks, in accordance with its rules.

He said the judgement had been that the vessel should be released upon the posting of a bond by the flag-State. After discussions between the governments concerned and some disagreement, both parties had agreed. The bond had then been posted and the vessel had been released. Subsequently, the parties had decided to bring the merits of the case to the Tribunal, which it was currently considering. The Tribunal had received a memorial and a counter-memorial from the applicant and was awaiting a response from Guinea, the respondent, which was due in the registry on 25 December. The Tribunal would then meet for deliberations prior to hearings scheduled for the middle of March. It proposed to deliver final judgement by the end of June.

A correspondent asked how the case would set a precedent in the future, since bunkering was relatively new and had not been written into the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Mr. Mensah replied that it could be a

precedent, but that was not known for certain since not all the documents had been received. Bunkering was one of the key elements of the case, but until all the arguments were presented, it would not be known whether the Tribunal's judgement would turn on the status of bunkering itself. Since bunkering was not an activity that had been considered in the negotiations, how bunkering should be characterized under the Convention would depend on whatever interpretation would be given to it.

He said that since the judgement would be the first occasion for an interpretation to be given, it would provide some insight into what the Tribunal considered to be involved in bunkering, making it a precedent in that respect. Until all the documents were in, it could not be said with certainty that bunkering would be the main element. But if it was, then, being the first case, it would certainly provide either a precedent or an indication of the direction the general thinking should take.

Mr. Eckhard then asked what bunkering meant. Mr. Mensah explained that the term referred to the putting of oil into the tank -- or bunker -- of a fishing vessel, enabling it to operate. Previously the fishing vessel would return to port and buy the fuel it required. But, now tankers went out to sea and provided the oil directly to the fishing vessels. It was similar to the in-flight refuelling carried out by military aircraft engaged in long-range operations.

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