STATES PARTIES TO LAW OF SEA CONVENTION TO MEET AT HEADQUARTERS, 9 - 13 JUNE

The Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 9 to 13 June.  Among the matters to be considered during the session are the budgetary and administrative questions related to the work of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and information reported by the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority and the Chairman of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Often referred to as “the constitution for the oceans”, the Convention was adopted on 10 December 1982 and entered into force 12 years later, on 16 November 1994.  The instrument is comprised of 320 articles and nine annexes, governing all aspects of ocean space and maritime issues, ranging from navigational rights, territorial limits and marine scientific research to management of resources, protection of the marine environment and settlement of disputes.

When the General Assembly commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Convention last December, Secretary-General Kofi Annan described it as “a milestone for the rule of law and the United Nations”, which established a legal framework of general principles and rules governing the division of ocean space and regulating all activities within it.  During the commemoration, the General Assembly paid tribute to the individuals who contributed to the elaboration of the Convention.

The Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the Convention adopted in 1994 and the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the Convention relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, which was adopted in 1995 and entered into force in December 2001, complete the United Nations law of the sea “package”.  The three institutions established by the Convention are the International Seabed Authority, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Twenty years after the adoption of the Convention, the number of parties to this instrument continues to rise.  While at the time of last year’s meeting there were 138 States Parties to the Convention, as of May 2003, 142 States and entities have ratified the instrument, including the European Community.

International Tribunal for Law of Sea

During this year’s meeting, States Parties will have before them the annual report of the Tribunal for 2002 and its proposed budget for 2004 (documents SPLOS/92 and SPLOS/2003/WP.1), which were approved during the Tribunal’s fifteenth session in March, as well as several other documents relating to budgetary and administrative issues of the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was established as one of the dispute-settlement mechanisms under the Convention.  It has exclusive jurisdiction in disputes concerning deep seabed mineral resources, provides advisory opinions when requested to do so, and may be called upon to prescribe provisional measures pending a decision in a matter before another court or tribunal.  The Tribunal holds its meetings and hears cases at its seat in Hamburg, Germany.  It is composed of 21 judges elected for nine-year terms.  Following the demise of Judge Lennox Fitzroy Ballah (Trinidad and Tobago) in March this year, a special election will be held in September to fill the vacancy left on the Tribunal.

Since its inauguration in 1996, 11 cases have been filed with the Tribunal.  They are primarily applications for the prompt release of vessels and their crews from detention.  One case concerning the conservation and sustainable exploitation of swordfish stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean was submitted in 2000 (Chile/European Community).  Proceedings in the case were suspended in 2001.  In December 2002, the Tribunal delivered its judgement in the “Volga” case between the Russian Federation and Australia (prompt release), which had been submitted earlier in the year.  Also during the year, the Tribunal received communications from parties on matters relating to compliance with judgements and orders with respect to the MOX Plant Case (environmental issues) between Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The Tribunal’s proposed budget for 2004 of $8,614,900 reflects an increase of $816,600, mostly as a result of exchange rate fluctuations, increases in standard staff costs and an increased DSA rate for Hamburg.  However, the Tribunal notes that, whenever possible, the zero-growth principle was applied when preparing the budget.  Based on the workload experienced in previous years, the number of staff has increased from 21 in 1996 to 37 in 2003.  There is no request for any additional posts in 2004.

The budget proposal envisages meetings for a total of 10 weeks in 2004 -– six to deal with the anticipated judicial workload and four to address administrative and other matters.  No appropriations are proposed to the Working Capital Fund, which was established to allow the Tribunal to deal with shortfalls in cash.  The Fund now stands at $1,150,000.

Financial Regulations

During this year’s meeting, the States Parties are also expected to adopt the draft financial regulations of the Tribunal (document SPLOS/2003/WP.3).  The document was finalized during last year’s meeting, but action on the draft was deferred pending its translation into the official languages of the United Nations.  The draft regulations provide for the presentation of the budget in euros, but allow States Parties to pay their contributions in either United States dollars or euros.

Other Budgetary Matters

Another document before the Meeting (document SPLOS/2003/WP.2) presents two proposals for dealing with possible increases in expenditure in connection with national tax on staff earnings from the Tribunal.

Although, under the Statute and the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Tribunal, the emoluments of the judges and officials are free from taxation, certain States do not exempt their citizens from tax liability on salaries from international organizations.  To address this issue, the Tribunal has maintained a staff assessment account since 1996, to which staff members make monthly payments.  As of 31 December 2002, the fund amounted to $2,299,070.

The first option presented in the paper is to transfer the money from the staff assessment account to a tax reimbursement fund, from which the interest would be used to reimburse staff members and judges of the Tribunal for taxes paid to their governments.  Interest not utilized in a certain year would be added to the principal.  Another proposed solution involves charging the expected amount of tax payments to the budget.  Under this approach, the total amount of the staff assessment account would be surrendered to States Parties, and no staff assessment would be collected in the future.  Since both proposals envision calculation of the budget in 2004 on the basis of the net salaries of staff, instead of on the gross salaries, they would lead to a decrease in the Tribunal’s budget of approximately $500,000 or $465,000.

Also to be considered by States Parties is the Tribunal’s liability in the event of death, injury or illness of its members attributable to service with the Tribunal. Under the proposal submitted by the Tribunal (document SPLOS/2003/WP.4), the Meeting would decide to apply to the members of the Tribunal the same rules as those governing compensation to members of commissions, committees or similar bodies of the United Nations.  Another item on the agenda is the Tribunal’s financial statement for 2001 and a report of external auditors thereon (document SPLOS/2003/WP.3).

And finally, by the terms of the draft decision proposed in document SPLOS/2003/WP.5, the States Parties would authorize transfers between appropriation sections of the Tribunal’s budget to finance over-expenditures resulting from currency fluctuations and other circumstances beyond the Tribunal’s control.  The Meeting would also authorize the use of savings from the 2002 financial period, if required.

Matters Related to Article 319 of Convention

Meetings of States Parties are convened pursuant to article 319 of the Convention, which spells out responsibilities entrusted to the Secretary-General, including an obligation to report to all States Parties, the International Seabed Authority and competent international organizations on issues of a general nature that have arisen with respect to the Convention.

Following the adoption of the Convention, since 1983, the General Assembly has been carrying out an annual review of ocean affairs and the law of the sea.  With the increasing development of national, regional and global action in the marine sector and the concomitant need for cooperation and coordination at the intergovernmental and inter-agency levels, the Assembly decided, in 1999, to widen and deepen that debate within the framework of the United Nations Open-Ended Consultative Process on Ocean Affairs.  The fourth Meeting of the Consultative Process is to be held in New York on 2 to 6 June, the week preceding the meeting of States Parties.  Among the issues to be discussed in connection with the Secretary-General’s report on oceans and the law of the sea are safety of navigation; for example, capacity-building for the production of nautical charts, and the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems.

At the Tenth Meeting, Chile proposed that the meeting of States Parties consider issues relating to the implementation of the Convention and the addition of a new agenda item to that effect.  While a number of delegations agreed that the meeting of States Parties should not be confined to dealing with only budgetary and administrative matters, others disagreed, referring to the mandate of the General Assembly regarding ocean affairs and the law of the sea.  The meeting decided to keep the item under review.

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