Background Release

COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF to hold PLENARY OF TWENTY-FIRST SESSION

From 31 March to 11 April 2008

NEW YORK, 24 March (United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- The General Assembly, at its sixty-second session, approved the convening by the Secretary-General of the twenty-first session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York from 17 March to 18 April on the understanding that the following periods will be used for the technical examination of submissions at the Geographic Information System laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division:  17 to 28 March and 14 to 18 April.  The plenary part of the twenty-first session will start on 31 March and will end on 11 April.

At this session, the Commission will continue the examination of data and other materials submitted by several coastal States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning the outer limits of their continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles, namely, the submissions made by Australia, New Zealand, Norway and France, as well as the joint submission made by France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom.  At this session the Commission will also consider a new submission, that of Mexico.

The submission by Mexico is the ninth submission received by the Commission.  The previous submissions were made by the Russian Federation (2001), Brazil (2004), Australia (2004), Ireland (2005), France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom (jointly in 2006), New Zealand (2006), Norway (2006) and France (2007).

The submission by Mexico, containing scientific and technical data and information on the proposed outer limits of the continental shelf, was delivered to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 13 December 2007 in accordance with the time limit provided for in article 4 of annex II to the Convention.

As required under the Rules of Procedure of the Commission (document CLCS/40), the executive summary of the Mexican submission, including all charts and coordinates, was made public by the Secretary-General through a note verbale dated 17 December 2007 which was circulated to all Member States of the United Nations, including the States parties to the Convention.

The submissions to the Commission are made pursuant to article 76, paragraph 8, of the Convention, which provides that, if a coastal State intends to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, information on such limits “shall be submitted by the coastal State to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. […] The Commission shall make recommendations to coastal States on matters related to the establishment of the outer limits of their continental shelf.  The limits of the shelf established by a coastal State on the basis of these recommendations shall be final and binding.”

Article 4 of annex II to the Convention establishes that a coastal State must make its submission “as soon as possible, but in any case within 10 years of the entry into force of this Convention for that State”.  However, as a result of a decision taken by the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention, the commencement of this 10-year period was postponed for some countries, in order to take into consideration that it was only after the adoption by the Commission of its Scientific and Technical Guidelines [hereafter “the Guidelines”] on 13 May 1999 that States had before them the basic documents concerning the preparation of submissions.  The eleventh Meeting decided that:  “in the case of a State party for which the Convention entered into force before 13 May 1999, it is understood that the 10-year time period referred to in article 4 of annex II to the Convention shall be taken to have commenced on 13 May 1999” (document SPLOS/72).

As provided by article 5 of annex II to the Convention, “unless the Commission decides otherwise, the Commission shall function by way of subcommissions composed of seven members, appointed in a balanced manner taking into account the specific elements of each submission by a coastal State”.  All submissions currently under examination are being considered by subcommissions.

The Commission will also consider training issues and will be briefed on the capacity-building activities carried out by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.  It will be recalled that the Division has prepared a training manual to assist States in developing the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare a submission in conformity with the Guidelines developed by the Commission.  On the basis of this manual, four United Nations training courses for developing States with potential for extended continental shelf were organized at the regional level in 2005 and 2006.  Additionally, three training courses were organized at the subregional level in Brunei Darussalam from 12 to 16 February 2007, South Africa from 13 to 17 August 2007 and Trinidad and Tobago from 14 to 18 January 2008.

For information on the history and purpose of the Commission, or any additional information, please visit the website of the Division at www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm.

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For information media • not an official record