What is the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf?
Author: Paulo Neves Coelho
Marine Biology Researcher of the Marine Environmental Law Research Group, integrated in the
Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) of the University of Porto
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (hereinafter referred to as CLCS or ‘the Commission’)
is, together with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Seabed Authority,
one of the three organizations expressly created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
of 10 December 1982 (hereinafter referred to as UNCLOS or ‘the Convention’). The establishment of the
CLCS responds to the evolution of the continental shelf as a legal concept and the necessity to delineate the
coastal States’ outer limit of this maritime zone, in order to separate those areas of the seabed and subsoil
that are within national jurisdiction (continental shelf), from those that are beyond national jurisdiction,
and thus, included in the Area (see [3], p. 1).
It is accepted that the legal concept of continental shelf arose with the Truman Proclamation, of
28th September 1945 (see [4], p. 17). Under a world-wide need for new sources of petroleum and other
minerals as a result of the economic and political context of the post-war, the United States proclaimed its
jurisdiction over the natural resources of the seabed and subsoil of the continental shelf. These rights were
based on geological continuity from the coastal State “[s]since the continental shelf may be regarded as an
extension of the land-mass of the coastal nation and thus naturally appurtenant to it, since these resources
frequently form a seaward extension of a pool or deposit lying within the territory […]” (see link below to
the Truman Proclamation of 28th September 1945, [9]).
The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf was the first instrument that established the
continental shelf regime, including the definition of its outer limits; Article 1 defined the continental shelf
as “the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast but outside the area of the
territorial sea, to a depth of 200 metres or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of the overlying waters
admits of the exploitation of the natural resources of the said areas.”
This definition of the limits of the continental shelf soon became controversial, in particular because the
second condition was regarded as open ended. (see [2], p. 123). The progress of science and technology
would tend to assign deeper portions of the seabed to technologically advanced and geographically
favoured coastal States. Theoretically, under these circumstances, in the future all the seabed and the
subsoil would, as technology advanced, eventually fall under the jurisdiction of those technologically
advanced geographically favoured coastal States. This situation prompted the intervention of the Maltese
Ambassador Arvid Pardo before the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1/11/1967. The subsequent
United Nations General Assembly Resolutions on this issue led to the establishment of the Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction (Resolution of
the United Nations General Assembly 2467 A (XXIII)) and the convening of the III United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter referred to as the Conference) (Resolution of the United
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Nations General Assembly 2574 A (XXIII)). The UNCLOS, the final result of the Conference, opened for
signature in 10th December 1982 and entered into force in 16th November 1994.
The idea for the establishment of a Commission to analyse the scientific and technical data gathered by the
coastal State to support the definition of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles
came from a written proposal of the United States in 1975, during the Conference.
The composition, functions and modus operandi of the Commission are primarily defined in article 76 and
in the Annex II of the Convention. The Commission is composed of 21 members, who shall be experts in the
fields of geology, geophysics or hydrography (UNCLOS, Annex II, art. 2(1)), and its functions (UNCLOS,
Annex II, art. 3(1)) are, first, to consider the data and other material submitted by coastal States concerning
the outer limits of the continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles, and
to make recommendations in accordance with article 76 and the Statement of Understanding adopted on
29 August 1980 by the Conference, and second to provide scientific and technical advice, if requested by
the coastal State concerned during the preparation of the data referred to above.
The Commission has prepared and issued two documents of major importance for its work and for States
considering making submission to it. These are the Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission
on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines) and the Rules of Procedure
of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (hereinafter referred to as the Rules of
Procedure). The Guidelines form the basis for the Commission to make its recommendations with respect
to the submissions prepared by States according to article 76 and Annex II of the Convention in a manner
that is consistent with the Convention and international law (see [5], paragraph 1.1). At the same time, the
Guidelines provide directions to coastal States which intend to submit data and other material concerning
the outer limits of the continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles
(see [5], paragraph 1.2), clarifying the interpretation of scientific, technical and legal terms contained in the
Convention (see [4], paragraph 1.3). The Rules of Procedure, as the name suggests, establish the modus
operandi of the Commission and the internal procedure of the subcommissions of the CLCS (see [6], p.5).
The first meeting of the Commission, elected by States parties with a 5 years mandate, took place on
16th June 1997. The Commission is currently performing its 3rd mandate, 2012-2017, with the vast task of
considering 65 submissions and 45 preliminary informations. To date the Commission has issued
18 recommendations, in accordance with a procedure that is briefly represented in the following figure 1.
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Figure 1. Brief description of the procedure before the CLCS, from the presentation of the submission by the coastal
State until the publication of the outer limits of the continental shelf (adapted from [1]).
The procedure begins with the submission by the coastal State to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations of the limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles and finishes with the publication of
the charts or list of coordinates of those limits, which shall be considered as final and binding. Depending
on its complexity and dimension, a submission will take at least nearly 18 months to be considered. Large
and complex submissions may take several years for the Commission to issue the recommendations, in
particular in cases where a revised submission may also have to be considered.
Further reading:
[1] Abreu M. P. de (2012). Extensão da Plataforma Continental - Um Projeto de Portugal - Seis Anos de
Missão (2004-2010). Pentaedro, Lda., Lisboa, 256 p.
[2] Christol C. (1969). The Legal Framework for the Development of Ocean Resources. California Marine
Research Committee CalCOFI, vol. 13, 122-126
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[3] Ribeiro M. C. (2013). What is the Area and the International Seabed Authority? Fiches thématiques,
Institut océanographique, Fondation Albert Ier, Prince de Monaco.
http://institut-ocean.org/images/articles/documents/1367593542.pdf
[4] Suarez S. V. (2008). The Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf - Legal Aspects of Their Establishment.
Springer, Berlin, 278 p.
[5] Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (1999). Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf – CLCS/11/Corr. 2/ Add.I/Corr.1. Published in:
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_documents.htm#Guidelines
[6] Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (2008). Rules of Procedure of the Commission on the
Limits of the Continental Shelf – CLCS/40/Rev.1. Published in:
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_documents.htm#Rules of Procedure
List of relevant webpages:
[7] Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm
[8] Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm
[9] Proclamation 2667 - Policy of the United States With Respect to the Natural Resources of the Subsoil
and Sea Bed of the Continental Shelf (The Truman Proclamation of 28th September 1945)
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12332
[10] Arvid Pardo speech:
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/pardo_ga1967.pdf
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