Meeting of States Parties

to Law of Sea Convention

113^th & 114^th Meetings (AM & Night)

states parties to law of the sea convention conclude session with adoption

 

of decisions on seat reallocation, workload management, tribunal’s budget

 

Concluding their two-week meeting this evening, States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted decisions on the proposed reallocation of seats in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, strengthening the Secretariat’s ability to manage the Commission’s increasing workload, and the Tribunal’s budget.  They also agreed to hold their next meeting from 23 June to 3 July 2008.

After failing to reach consensus on a joint Asian-African proposal relating to the allocation of seats in the Commission and the Tribunal, the States parties adopted a draft decision to further study and consider that proposal during their next meeting.  The changes would have taken effect in 2012, at the expiration of the five-year terms of the newly elected panel of 21 Commission experts.  (For details of the proposal, see Press Release SEA/1887 of 19 June.)

In their decision on the Commission’s workload (document SPLOS/L.52), the delegates called upon States parties whose experts were serving on the Commission to do everything possible to ensure those experts’ full participation in its work and to contribute voluntarily to the trust funds to help developing coastal States -– particularly least developed countries and small island developing States –- in preparing submissions to the Commission on the outer limits of their respective continental shelves, in accordance with the Convention.  They also called on the Commission to continue searching for ways to improve its working methods in order to ensure timeliness and efficiency and to consider adding more work hours to its regular sessions.

Further, they requested that coastal States parties inform the Commission by the end of November 2007 if they intended to make a submission and, if so, by what date.  The States parties also decided to continue to address issues related to the workload of the Commission and to funding for its members attending sessions of the Commission and subcommissions, as a matter of priority.

That decision came after a week-long debate in which States parties expressed concern over the shortage of adequate equipment, manpower and work hours to effectively manage the Commission’s growing workload and the foreseen inability of many developing States to meet the May 2009 submission deadline, due to a shortage of funds and technical know-how.

They also adopted a draft decision on the surrender of savings by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (document SPLOS/L.51).  They decided to “surrender” and deduct from the assessed contributions of States parties for 2008 an overexpenditure of €65,816 from the 2002 savings and €208,670 from the 2004 savings.  Further, they decided to “surrender” and deduct €351,899 from the assessed contributions for 2008, corresponding to the approved supplementary budget.

Following adoption of the decision on seating reallocation, meeting President Rosemary Banks of New Zealand noted that there was a great deal of hard work ahead, saying she would consult with regional group chairs to consider how to take up the responsibilities flowing from that decision.  Arrangements for 2008 elections to the Tribunal would proceed according to existing seat allocations.

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For information media • not an official record