Round-Up

Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf Concludes Thirty-First Session

NEW YORK, 15 March (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs) ― The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its thirty-first session at United Nations Headquarters from 21 January to 8 March 2013.  The thirty-first session included two weeks of plenary meetings and five weeks devoted to the technical examination of submissions at the geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.

Three presentations were delivered during the plenary meetings of that session:  Iceland gave a presentation on its Submission in respect of the Ægir Basin area and in the Western and Southern parts of the Reykjanes Ridge; Denmark made a second presentation on its partial Submission in the area North of the Faroe Islands; and Gabon made a presentation in respect of its submission.

Also during the thirty-first session, the six existing Subcommissions continued the examination of submissions and held meetings with delegations of the submitting States.  The six submissions that are now being actively considered are those made by Uruguay, the Cook Islands concerning the Manihiki Plateau, Argentina, Ghana, Iceland in respect of the Ægir Basin area and in the Western and Southern parts of the Reykjanes Ridge, and the partial submission of Denmark in the area North of the Faroe Islands.

The Commission’s remaining vacancy has now been filled following the election of Mr. Szymon Uścinowicz ( Poland) at the Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea held on 19 December 2012.  At the thirty-first Session, he was appointed as a member of the Subcommissions established to examine the above-mentioned Submissions of Uruguay and Denmark.  The details of the thirty-first session will be reflected in the statement of the Chairperson of the Commission on the progress of work of the Commission, which will be issued as document CLCS/78.

The thirty-second session will be held from 15 July to 30 August 2013 (plenary meetings from 12 to 16 and from 26 to 30 August).  The thirty-third session will be held from 7 October to 22 November 2013, with no plans for plenary meetings.

For additional information on the work of the Commission, please see the website of the Division at www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm.

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For information media • not an official record