UN continental shelf commission to examine nine submissions over five weeks

The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is due to spend five weeks examining coastal states’ submissions on the extent of their continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles, with its 68th session running from 19 October to 20 November in New York.

Nine subcommissions will continue work on submissions from Yemen, Fiji, Palau, Portugal, Namibia, Mozambique and Tanzania, as well as revised submissions from Brazil and Russia. The session will have no plenary meetings: the work is scheduled to take place in technical facilities, including geographic information systems laboratories. [1]

The commission, established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, assesses scientific information submitted by coastal states and makes recommendations on the outer limits of their continental shelves. Limits established by a state on the basis of those recommendations are final and binding under the convention. The commission’s recommendations do not decide maritime boundaries between states with opposite or adjacent coasts.

Meetings are held in private unless the commission decides otherwise. The UN says executive summaries of submissions, including charts and coordinates, are publicly available, along with summaries of recommendations the commission has adopted. [1]