The body whose recommendation makes a continental shelf limit final and binding, 200 nautical miles out

Background

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf exists to settle one narrow question. Under the Convention a coastal State fixes the outer limits of its continental shelf where it runs beyond 200 nautical miles, on the basis of the recommendation that the Commission makes. The provisions that govern the Commission sit in Annex II to the Convention itself. In article 3 of that Annex its functions are to consider data submitted by coastal States and to make recommendations in accordance with article 76. The Commission also gives scientific and technical advice where the coastal State asks for it during preparation of the data. Under article 76(8) a limit set on the basis of these recommendations is final and binding. The Commission sits at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and its sessions need the approval of the General Assembly, given in its yearly resolution on oceans and on the law of the sea. Under its own Rules of Procedure, Rule 23 keeps the meetings of the Commission and of its subcommissions in private unless it rules otherwise. The recommendations of the Commission do not prejudice how a boundary between States with opposite or adjacent coasts is delimited.