Background Release

Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf, Meeting at Headquarters

 

2 August – 3 September, Will Hold Plenary 16 – 27 August

 

NEW YORK, 13 August (United Nations 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-sixth session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York from 2 to 27 August 2010.  The period from 2 to 13 Augustwill be used for the technical examination of submissions at the Geographic Information System laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.  The plenary part of the twenty-sixth session will be held from 16 to 27 August.  In view of its workload, at its twenty-fifth session the Commission decided to extend the twenty-sixth session for the period from 30 August to 3 September to continue the technical examination of submissions.

At the upcoming plenary session, the Commission will continue the examination of data and other materials submitted by the following 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:  Indonesia (in respect of the area north-west of Sumatra Island); Japan; and Suriname; as well as Mauritius and Seychelles (jointly in the region of the Mascarene Plateau).

The Commission will also receive formal presentations of the submissions made by Yemen (in respect of south-east of Socotra Island); South Africa (in respect of the mainland of the territory of the Republic of South Africa); Palau; India, as well as France and South Africa (jointly in the area of the Crozet Archipelago and the Prince Edward Islands).  Upon the request of the respective submitting States, presentations on the remaining submissions that have been included on the provisional agenda for the session (notably, Iceland in the Ægir Basin area and in the western and southern parts of Reykjanes Ridge, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) have been deferred to a later session.

As required under the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, the executive summary of all new submissions, including all charts and coordinates, has been made public by the Secretary‑General through continental shelf notifications circulated to Member States of the United Nations, including the States parties to the Convention.  The executive summaries are available on the Division’s website at http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm.

The summaries of all recommendations adopted by the Commission are also available on the above-referenced website.

For information on the history and purpose of the Commission, see earlier Press Release SEA/1818 of 30 March 2005.  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