Background Release

COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF TO HOLD PLENARY

 

OF TWENTY-THIRD SESSION FROM 23 MARCH TO 3 APRIL

 

NEW YORK, 19 March (United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- The General Assembly at its sixty-third session approved the convening by the Secretary-General of the twenty-third session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York from 2 March to 9 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:  2 to 20 March and 6 to 9 April.  The plenary part of the twenty-third session will start on 23 March and end on 3 April.

At the session, the Commission will continue the examination of data and other materials submitted by a number of 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.  In particular, it will continue to examine the submissions made by Norway, France (in respect of the areas of French Guiana and New Caledonia) and Mexico (in respect of the western polygon in the Gulf of Mexico) as well as the joint submission made by France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom.  At this session, the Commission will also receive formal presentations of three new submissions, namely those made by Indonesia (in respect of the continental shelf north-west of Sumatra Island), Japan as well as a joint submission by Mauritius and the Seychelles (in respect of the Mascarene Plateau).

These three new submissions were delivered to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, respectively, on 16 June 2008, 12 November 2008 and 1 December 2008, in accordance with the timeframe provided for in article 4 of annex II to the Convention.

As required under the Commission’s rules of procedure (document CLCS/40/Rev.1), the executive summaries of the new submissions, including all charts and coordinates, were made public by the Secretary-General through notes verbales dated, respectively, 18 June 2008, 19 November 2008 and 2 December 2008, which were circulated to all Member States of the United Nations, including the States parties to the Convention.  The executive summaries were also posted on the Division’s website at http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm.

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 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).  In June 2008, the Meeting of States Parties decided that it is understood that the time period referred to in article 4 of annex II to the Convention and the decision contained in SPLOS/72, paragraph (a), may be satisfied by submitting to the Secretary-General preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles and a description of the status of preparation and intended date of making a submission in accordance with the requirements of article 76 of the Convention and with the Rules of Procedure and the Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

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.

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