Background Release

Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf, Meeting at Headquarters

15 March-23 April, Decides Plenary Will Take Place 5-16 April

NEW YORK, 1 April (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ‑‑ The General Assembly, in its resolution 64/71 of 4 December 2009, approved the convening by the Secretary-General of the twenty-fifth session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York from 15 March to 23 April 2010 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:  15 March to 1 April and 19 to 23 April.  The plenary part of the twenty-fifth session will be held from 5 to 16 April.

At the twenty-fifth session, the Commission will continue its examination of data and other materials submitted by several coastal States Parties to the 1982 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 Barbados, the United Kingdom (in respect of Ascension Island), Indonesia (in respect of the area north-west of Sumatra Island) and Japan.

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Commission (CLCS/40/Rev.1), in addition to the submissions already under consideration by the Commission, all other submissions which were delivered more than three months before the commencement of the twenty-fifth session are included on the provisional agenda of the session.  These include the submissions by:  France (for the areas of the French Antilles and the Kerguelen Islands); Yemen (in respect of south-east of Socotra Island); Iceland (in the Ægir Basin area in the western and southern parts of Reykjanes Ridge); Pakistan; Norway (in respect of Bouvetøya and Dronning Maud Land); South Africa (in respect of the mainland of the territory of the Republic of South Africa); the joint submission by the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (concerning the Ontong Java Plateau); the joint submission by France and South Africa (in the area of the Crozet Archipelago and the Prince Edward Islands); France (in respect of La Réunion Island and Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Islands); Palau; Sri Lanka; Portugal; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), and of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Tonga; Spain in respect of the area of Galicia; India; Trinidad and Tobago; Namibia; and Cuba.

At the twenty-fifth session the Commission will hear formal presentations of 11 of the above submissions, namely those made by France (for the areas of the French Antilles and the Kerguelen Islands); Yemen (in respect of south-east of Socotra Island); Norway (in respect of Bouvetøya and Dronning Maud Land); the joint submission by the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (concerning the Ontong Java Plateau); Portugal; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), and of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Tonga; Spain in respect of the area of Galicia; Trinidad and Tobago; Namibia and Cuba.  Upon the request of submitting States, presentations on the remaining submissions that have been included on the provisional agenda for the session have been deferred to a later session.  In accordance with previous practice, the Commission may decide to remove the consideration of these submissions from the final agenda to be adopted by the plenary, with a view to including them on the provisional agenda of the twenty-sixth session.

As required under the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, the executive summary of all new submissions, including all charts and coordinates, was made public by the Secretary-General through notes verbales which were circulated to 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.

It is recalled that, at its twenty-fourth session, the Commission adopted the recommendations in relation to the submission made by France (in respect of the areas of French Guiana and New Caledonia).  The summary of these recommendations is available on the above-referenced website.

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.”

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”.

For additional information on the background and mandate of the Commission, or any pertinent 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