Background Release

COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF CONVENES

TO EXAMINE SUBMISSION OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION

NEW YORK, 19 March (DOA/LOS) -– The Tenth Session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will be convened for three weeks, from 25 March to 12 April, to examine the submission by the Russian Federation regarding the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.  This is the first submission by a coastal State to establish the outer limits of an extended continental shelf.

This submission was made pursuant to article 76, paragraph 8, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, which came into force on 16 November 1994.  The submission, containing data and information on the proposed outer limits of the continental shelf of the Russian Federation beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured (often referred to as an extended continental shelf), was delivered to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 December 2001 by officials of the Russian Mission.

Upon completion of the examination of the submission, the Commission will make recommendations to the submitting State in accordance with article 76 of the Convention.  During the examination of the submission, the Commission has the right to request from the submitting State additional data and information, or even to request that a new submission be made if the one already received does not meet the requirements of the Convention.  In the case of disagreement by the coastal State with the recommendations of the Commission, the coastal State shall, within a reasonable time, make a revised or new submission to the Commission.  The limits of the continental shelf established by the Russian Federation on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission will be final and binding.  The Secretary-General will then give due publicity to the limits thus established.

A note verbale was circulated to all Member States of the United Nations, including the States Parties to the Convention, in accordance with rule 49 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission (CLCS/3/Rev.3 and Corr. 1), which requires that the proposed outer limits of the extended continental shelf pursuant to the submission be made public.  It includes geographical coordinates of points delineating the proposed outer limits in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as illustrative maps.  The same information is also posted on the Web site of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (http://www.un.org/Depts/los), and has also been included in the Law of the Sea Information Circular.

The determination of the outer limit of the continental shelf of States is necessary to separate those areas that fall under national jurisdiction from those areas of the seabed which were proclaimed by the General Assembly, and later the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to be the common heritage of mankind.  The resources of the deep seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction are to be managed jointly by all States through the International Seabed Authority, a body also established by the Convention.

History and Purpose of Commission

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf was elected following the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.  Its purpose is to facilitate the implementation of its provisions in respect of the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast.  Article 76 provides the complex formulae by which coastal States may establish those outer limits.

The tasks of the Commission are twofold:  to examine the submission and make recommendations to the coastal State, and to provide scientific and technical advice, if requested by the coastal State concerned, during the preparation of that submission.  The Commission’s recommendations and actions are without prejudice to the delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts.  More than 30 States are said to possibly meet the requirements to take advantage of those provisions.

The continental shelf is defined in the Convention as the seabed and subsoil of submarine areas which because of their geological characteristics are considered as the natural prolongation of the continental or land mass beneath the oceans or seas 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.  The continental margin consists of the shelf, the slope and the rise.  It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof.  The Convention gives coastal States sovereign rights to explore and exploit such resources, which have been estimated as being extremely valuable.

The current membership of the Commission was elected in March 1997 at the Sixth Meeting of States Parties.  As the term of the members of the Commission is five years, election of a new Commission is scheduled to be held at the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties, which will take place from 16 to 26 April.  The newly elected members of the Commission will meet from 24 to 28 June.  This will be the eleventh session of the Commission.

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