COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF EXAMINES SUBMISSION OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION

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COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF

EXAMINES SUBMISSION OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION

NEW YORK, 19 March 2002 (Division for Ocean Affairs) -– The Tenth Session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has for the last three weeks been examining the scientific data and other material included in the submission by the Russian Federation regarding the outer limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.  The excerpts from the executive summary of the submission, including the coordinates of the outer limits of the continental shelf, as proposed by the Russian Federation, and the illustrative maps, were circulated to all States and to all members of the Commission.  This information was also posted on the Web site of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea:  http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm.

This is the first submission by a coastal State to the Commission to establish the outer limits of an extended continental shelf 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 contains 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), and was delivered to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 December 2001 by officials of the Russian Mission.

In response to the submission, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Norway and the United States addressed communications to the Commission through the Secretariat, stating the position of these States on various aspects of the submission.

Hans Corell, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel, addressed the tenth session.  In his statement, he noted, among others, that with the Commission’s first consideration of a submission by a coastal State, the Commission was entering another phase of the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and that it would now experience the practical opportunities and challenges involved in the application of the provisions of article 76 of the Convention.  Mr. Corell further said that the examination of the submission should be carried out with utmost integrity, and that he firmly believed that the results of the examination conducted by the Commission would stand the test of global scrutiny.

The experts of the delegation of the Russian Federation, headed by Dr. Ivan Glumov, Deputy Minister for Natural Resources, made a presentation to the plenary of the Commission in its first week.  At the completion of the initial presentation, the Commission elected a sub-commission, in accordance with its rules of procedure, to report to the full Commission with its recommendations for action to be taken by the Commission regarding recommendation to the submitting

State.  In order to allow the sub-commission of seven members sufficient time to examine the submission, the plenary meetings of the Commission were suspended.

During the examination of the submission, the delegation of the Russian Federation was given the opportunity to elaborate further on certain aspects of information contained in the submission, and to respond to questions asked by the members of the sub-commission regarding the interpretation of data and material.  A number of points of clarification were sought from the experts of the Russian Federation, and additional data and information were requested.  Some of the requested material was submitted during the session, and the experts representing the submitting State committed themselves to presenting additional data and information by mid-May, so that at its next meeting the sub-commission could continue the preparation of its recommendations to the Commission in accordance with article 6 (1) of Annex II to the Convention.

The state-of-the-art technical facilities, and technical assistance for the examination of scientific material conducted by the sub-commission were provided by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.  The staff of the Division prepared illustrative maps, created on the basis of the data contained in the submission of the Russian Federation.  They alsohelped prepare diagrams and tables for the assessment of the submission.

The members of the sub-commission also visited the well-known Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, to review recently collected scientific data pertinent to the submission.

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 2002.

The sub-commission decided to reconvene from 10 to 14 June 2002 before the expiration of the term of office of the current membership of the Commission on

15 June 2002.  Upon completion of its work, the sub-commission will submit its recommendations through the United Nations Secretariat to the newly elected membership of the Commission, which will hold the eleventh session of the Commission from 24 to 28 June 2002.

The Commission will then make recommendations to the Russian Federation on matters related to the establishment of the outer limits of its continental shelf. 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 shelf established by a coastal State on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission will be final and binding.

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.

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