Round-up of Session

COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF CONCLUDES SEVENTEENTH SESSION

NEW YORK, 26 April (DOALOS) -- The seventeenth session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf was held from 20 March to 21 April.

Vladimir Golitsyn, Director, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) delivered the opening statement on behalf of Nicolas Michel, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel, who could not attend the opening meeting due to other commitments.  Among other things, the statement of the Legal Counsel referred to the very busy agenda of the seventeenth session, during which the Commission would continue the examination of the submissions by Brazil, Australia and Ireland, and deal with important procedural and organizational issues.  In particular, the statement emphasized that, at this session, as a matter of priority, the Commission should consider and decide how to best organize its work under the present circumstances.  The technological and scientific advances in the understanding of the seabed and ocean floor, considered in conjunction with the projected workload of the Commission resulting from the number of submissions that were expected by May 2009, demonstrated that the Commission operated under increasingly difficult conditions.

The statement reassured the Commission that the Secretariat would continue to make every effort, within the financial resources available, to provide the Commission with the assistance it required, noting that, despite the recent limitations imposed by the General Assembly on the disbursement of funds from the budget for the 2006-2007 biennium, the Secretariat had upgraded the technical facilities, as well as the conference room of the Division, which was now fitted with state-of-the-art equipment, allowing it to be used as a third Geographic Information System (GIS) Laboratory, in time for the seventeenth session.  As a result of those improvements, the premises of the Division could accommodate simultaneous work of three subcommissions at any given time.

At the seventeenth session, the Commission continued the examination of the submissions made by Brazil, Australia and Ireland.  The Subcommissions, which had been established at the previous sessions to examine those submissions, reported to the Commission on the work that they had carried out intersessionaly and continued the examination of their submissions.  The Subcommissions also held a number of meetings with the delegations of Brazil, Australia and Ireland, and discussed technical aspects with regard to the respective submissions.  The Subcommissions will continue the examination of the respective submissions during the eighteenth session of the Commission.

During the session, the Commission also dealt with several organizational issues.  In particular, the Commission discussed the issue of the projected workload associated with the examination of the submissions expected in the coming years, and noted the need to increase the number or duration of sessions convened each year.  In view of the constraints on time and funding to allow members of the Commission to spend an increased amount of time in New York, whose participation is financed by their Governments, the Commission decided to bring this issue again to the attention of the Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.  In addition, the Commission amended some of the provisions of its Rules of Procedure to align them more clearly with the provisions of the Convention.  The amended rules of procedure will be issued as document CLCS/40/Rev.1.

During the session, the Director of the Division provided the members of the Commission with an update concerning the activities carried out by the Division with regard to training courses for delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, for the preparation of submission to the Commission, and the completion of the Training Manual.

During the course of the session, on 19 April, New Zealand made a submission through the Secretary-General to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, pursuant to article 76, paragraph 8, of the Convention.  The consideration of this new submission will be included in the provisional agenda of the eighteenth session of the Commission to be held in New York from 21 August to 15 September 2006.

For information on the history and purpose of the Commission, see Press Release SEA/1818 issued on 30 March 2005.  For additional information, please visit the Web site of the Commission at www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm.

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For information media • not an official record