COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF ADOPTS ANNEXES TO SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

Press Release
SEA/1653

COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF ADOPTS ANNEXES TO SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

NEW YORK, 22 September (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf completed its sixth session, which took place from 31 August to 3 September, with the adoption of three additional annexes to its Scientific and Technical Guidelines. Annex I, previously adopted, contains the names and Web sites of international organizations which might have access to data and information of potential interest to coastal States during the preparation of their submissions to the Commission.

The Guidelines are the basis for the Commission to make its recommendations with respect to submissions prepared by coastal States, according to article 76 and Annex II to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in a manner that is consistent with the Convention and international law. They were prepared to provide direction to coastal States which intend to submit data and other material to the Commission concerning the outer limits of the continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The Guidelines also aim to clarify the scope and depth of admissible scientific and technical evidence to be examined for the purpose of making recommendations.

Flowcharts and illustrations were added to the Guidelines as Annex II to further illustrate a number of the more complex provisions of article 76 of the Convention governing the determination of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.

Annex III contains three extracts which set out the legal regime for the continental shelf under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS): Part VI of the Convention, which deals with the Continental Shelf; Annex II to the Convention, which contains the provisions for the establishment and functions of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; and Annex II to the Final Act of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, entitled “A Statement of Understanding Concerning a Specific Method to be Used in Establishing the Outer Edge of the Continental Shelf” relating to the States in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal. Annex IV contains the names, nationalities and current professional positions of the members of the Commission.

Election of Officers of Commission

The officers of the Commission for the second half of the five-year term served by the current members of the Commission were elected on 1 September -- they will serve from 16 December 1999 to 15 June 2002, the end of the term of the current membership of the Commission. Yuri B. Kazmin was elected by

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acclamation as Chairman. Following informal consultations among its members, and taking into account the principle of equitable geographic representation, the Commission elected Osvaldo P. Astiz, Lawrence F. Awosika and Yong Ahn Park, as Vice-Chairmen, and Peter F. Croker as Rapporteur, also by acclamation.

In view of the anticipated needs of the Commission concerning the editorial review of its future documents, reports, etc., as well as possible further amendments to the Scientific and Technical Guidelines, the Commission decided to convert the Editorial Committee from an ad hoc to a permanent subsidiary body of the Commission, and elected Galo Carrera as its Chairman. The Commission also decided to establish the Working Group on Training as its permanent subsidiary body -- Lawrence F. Awosika was elected Chairman.

Training

The issue of training was taken up as a priority with a view to promoting a better understanding of article 76 of the Convention, as well as the Scientific and Technical Guidelines, in particular taking account of the needs of developing States. Since the last session of the Commission, research had been done to identify training needs and available means, including a review of existing training projects and capacities within the United Nations system.

An action plan for training was agreed upon: in a letter to the President of the General Assembly, the Chairman of the Commission would flag the issues relevant to the need for training identified by the Commission, and propose draft provisions related to training for inclusion in the annual resolution of the General Assembly under the agenda item “Oceans and the law of the sea”. The Chairman would also write to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), transmitting to them the basic documents of the Commission (Rules of Procedure, Modus Operandi and Scientific and Technical Guidelines), and requesting them to familiarize the Commission with their programmes as they concern article 76 of the Convention.

The Commission also decided to prepare a manual in the form of a flowchart describing the actions to be undertaken by a coastal State during the process of preparing a submission to the Commission. Several members of the Working Group on Training were requested to prepare the manual with a view to having a draft ready for discussion at the next session in May 2000. In addition, it was decided that several members of the Working Group should develop proposals for training modules suited to their own regions, including a regional assessment of capabilities and training needs, and to submit those proposals as well for discussion at the next session.

The Commission also decided to convene an open meeting during its next session to familiarize representatives of coastal States with the necessity for implementing the provisions of article 76 relating to the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, bearing in mind the requirement of the Convention to submit particulars of such limits to the Commission “within 10 years of the entry into force of the Convention for that State” (Article 4 of Annex II to the Convention). The Secretariat was asked to increase its endeavours to disseminate the documents of the Commission to raise awareness among States of the Commission’s activities,

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including the preparation of an information document on the functions and activities of the Commission, as well as on the need for coastal States to implement article 76 in a timely manner.

After extensive discussion on the scope and target of possible training modules, the Working Group on Training also decided to undertake a draft outline for a proposed training course of approximately five days duration aimed at practitioners who would take part in the preparation of the submission of a coastal State. The proposed course would concentrate on the basic documents of the Commission, and would also include the manual referred to above.

Trust fund

The Commission also continued to pursue the possibility of establishing a trust fund to allow all members of the Commission to fully participate in the Commission’s activities, particularly those members from developing countries which have encountered difficulties in financing their participation in all sessions of the Commission. The Chairman informed the Commission that the ninth Meeting of States Parties had requested information on the estimated costs for the establishment of a trust fund for developing States, and that information had been provided by the Secretariat. The Commission took note of the information, and requested that it be submitted to the President of the tenth Meeting of States Parties.

International Conference on Technical Aspects of Maritime Boundary Delineation and Delimitation, sponsored by Advisory Board on Law of the Sea (ABLOS)

The Commission reviewed a number of presentations prepared by its members for the International Conference on Technical Aspects of Maritime Boundary Delineation and Delimitation, including UNCLOS Article 76 issues, to be held in Monaco, on 9 and 10 September, under the auspices of the Advisory Board on the Law of the Sea (ABLOS), a joint body composed of participants from the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), the IHO, and the IOC, as well as the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs in an ex officio capacity. It was pointed out that the presentations did not represent the views of the Commission as a whole but rather those of its members in their individual capacities.

Technical and logistical preparedness of Secretariat

The Commission also discussed in brief the Information Note by the Secretariat on Technical and Logistical Preparedness of the Secretariat to Provide Assistance to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in the Consideration of Submissions of Coastal States, and emphasized the importance of acquiring the most up-to-date software available on ocean information systems and the delineation of the outer limits of maritime spaces.

Meetings of Commission in 2000

The Commission decided that the seventh session would be held for one week from 1 to 5 May 2000 to further discuss the matters of training and the establishment of a trust fund. It also decided to hold one open meeting of

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the Commission during that week, to which the representatives of interested States would be invited. It would also be decided at that session if it would be necessary to hold a second session in the same year in the absence of a submission from a coastal State. If the Commission were to decide in favour of holding another session that year, the tentative dates for its eighth session would be 28 August to 1 September 2000.

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