Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf to Hold Sixty-Sixth Session at Headquarters, 9 February to 13 March

NEW YORK, 5 February (Office of Legal Affairs) - The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its sixty-sixth session from 9 February to 13 March at United Nations Headquarters. During the session, plenary meetings will be held from 9 to 13 February and from 2 to 6 March. The remainder of the session will be devoted to the technical examination of submissions by subcommissions on the Division premises, including geographic information systems laboratories and other facilities.

During the session, 10 subcommissions will consider submissions made by: Palau in respect of the North Area; Portugal; Spain in respect of the area of Galicia; Namibia; Mozambique; Mexico in respect of the eastern polygon in the Gulf of Mexico; United Republic of Tanzania; and Denmark in respect of the Southern Continental Shelf of Greenland; as well as revised submissions made by Brazil in respect of the Brazilian Oriental and Meridional Margin; and the Russian Federation in the area of the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean.

The plenary of the Commission will commence its consideration of the recommendations prepared by the subcommission established to consider the submission made by Mauritius in respect of the region of Rodrigues Island, which were transmitted to the Commission during the sixty-fourth session.

Coastal States that had not yet presented their submissions to the Commission were invited to present them at the plenary part of the session. The following submitting States accepted the invitation: Fiji (amended submission); Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in respect of the North Fiji basin region; as well as Fiji and Solomon Islands in respect of the Melanesian Borderlands Plateau region.

Background

Established pursuant to article 2 of annex II to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Commission makes recommendations to coastal States on matters related to the establishment of the outer limits of their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, based on information submitted by those coastal States. The recommendations are based on the scientific data and other material provided by coastal States in relation to the implementation of article 76 of the Convention and do not prejudice matters relating to the delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts or prejudice the position of States that are parties to a land or maritime dispute, or application of other parts of the Convention or any other treaties. The limits of the continental shelf established by a coastal State on the basis of the recommendations are final and binding. In the case of disagreement by a coastal State with the recommendations of the Commission, the coastal State shall, within a reasonable time, make a revised or new submission to the Commission.

Under rule 23 of its rules of procedure (Public and private meetings), the meetings of the Commission, its subcommissions and subsidiary bodies are held in private, unless the Commission decides otherwise.

As required under the rules of procedure of the Commission, the executive summaries of all the submissions, including all charts and coordinates, have been made public by the Secretary-General, through continental shelf notifications circulated to Member States of the United Nations, as well as States Parties to the Convention. The executive summaries are available on the Division's website at: www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm. The summaries of recommendations adopted by the Commission are also available on the website referenced above.

The Commission is a body of 21 experts in the field of geology, geophysics or hydrography serving in their personal capacities. Members of the Commission are elected for a term of five years by the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention having due regard to the need to ensure equitable geographical representation. Not fewer than three members shall be elected from each geographical region.

Currently, one seat on the Commission is vacant resulting from a lack of nominations from the Group of Eastern European States.

The Convention provides that the State Party which submitted the nomination of a member of the Commission shall defray the expenses of that member while in performance of Commission duties. A voluntary trust fund for the purpose of defraying the cost of participation of the members of the Commission from developing countries has been established. It has facilitated the participation of several members of the Commission from developing countries in the sessions of the Commission.

The convening by the Secretary-General of the sessions of the Commission, with full conference services, including documentation, for the plenary parts of these sessions, is subject to approval by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Assembly does so in its annual resolutions on oceans and the law of the sea, which also address other matters relevant to the work of the Commission and the conditions of service of its members.

For additional information on the work of the Commission, see the website of the Division at: www.un.org/depts/los/index.htm. In particular, the most recent Statements by the Chair on the progress in the work of the Commission are available at: www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/commission_documents.