The Continental Shelf beyond 200 NM: A First Look at the Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh/Myanmar) Case

Abstract

The decision in the Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh/Myanmar) before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) came down in March 2012 and brought forward a number of complex questions concerning the international legal regime of the continental shelf. During the negotiation of the 1982 Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention, it was necessary that coastal States determine a definitive outer limit of the continental margin. In commencing the Bay of Bengal Case, Bangladesh sought to secure the full and satisfactory delimitation of Bangladesh's maritime boundaries with Myanmar in the territorial sea. This chapter concludes that the Bay of Bengal decision has not diminished or otherwise changed the role of the Commission in the process of the establishment by a coastal State of its outer limit of the continental shelf. Keywords: Bangladesh; Bay of Bengal case; continental shelf; ITLOS; Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention; maritime boundary; Myanmar