Legal Aspects of the Continental Shelf

Abstract

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention) establishes a comprehensive framework for addressing the issues implicated in the uses of ocean space. It represents both a codification of customary international law and the development of new rules of law. The Convention contains 17 Parts, 320 articles, 9 annexes, and a Final Act. The history of the development of the Convention and its subsequent implementation is outlined in chapter 2. The provisions of the Convention relating to the continental shelf are largely contained in articles 76-85, annex II (regarding the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf), and annex II of the Final Act (which contains a statement of understanding concerning a specific method to be used in establishing the outer edge of the continental margin in very unusual circumstances). The provisions set forth the parameters of a regime in an area in which the coastal State exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting the natural resources of the seabed and seafloor. The first article of Part VI, article 76, defines the continental shelf in a manner which is scientifically based, legally defensible, and politically acceptable. The formula to define the outer limit of a coastal State's continental shelf is complex, but workable. At a minimum under the Convention, coastal States have sovereign rights regarding the seabed and subsoil of the continental shelf out to 200 M measured from its baseline, whether or not the physical continental shelf extends to that limit, subject to the delimitation of boundaries with neighboring adjacent or opposite States. Article 77 provides that the sovereign rights, both within and beyond 200 M regarding the continental shelf, are exclusive rights in the sense that if a coastal State does not explore the continental shelf or exploit its natural resources, no one may undertake these activities without the express consent of the coastal State. In addition, those sovereign rights "do not depend on occupation, effective or notional, or any express proclamation." The Convention allows a coastal State to claim an exclusive economic zone which shall not extend beyond 200 M from the baseline from which the territorial sea is measured.