Power and science in the context of the commission on the limits of the continental shelf

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) is an expert body established under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) and it is becoming more and more prominent in the international agenda due to the present race to the bottom of the ocean, the last frontier to be explored of our planet. According to LOSC Annex II, Article 3, the “functions of the Commission” shall be: (a) 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 Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea; (b) to provide scientific and technical advice, if requested by the coastal State concerned during the preparation of the data referred to in sub-paragraph (a). The mandate of the Commission is embodied in Article 76, which states in its paragraph 8 that: “The limits of the shelf established by a coastal State on the basis of these recommendations shall be final and binding.” In this light, it is fundamental to perceive the true meaning behind this “final and binding” formula just as it is important to grasp the extent of the jurisdiction of the Commission. Although primarily laying its activity on scientific and technical guidelines, the magnitude of the task performed by the Commission is well beyond what was originally anticipated by the Convention. In this sense, it is quite revealing that a study prepared during the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea by the Secretariat estimated that there would be 35 coastal States with continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles. By now, there are already 75 completed submissions and there are still new submissions on their way to the desk of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. This in itself represents a major challenge for the Commission. The role played by the Commission has an impending political nature which is inescapable since it deals with the delimitation of international frontiers. In order to assess the balance of powers within the Commission, it is crucial to develop on topics such as the workload of the Commission, its agenda, its budget, the method of election of the twenty-one members and last but not the least, the Rules of Procedure, especially the rules of confidentiality, that hinder the open exchange of information among the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The extension of continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles represents for most of coastal states the last remaining opportunity to extend their territory. The Commission is at the center of this process and therefore its role should not be underestimated in any way. This paper aims to discuss the actual role of the Commission by focusing on the entrenched ambiguity of its very nature: a technical body in a political world.