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Law of the Continental Shelf Delimitation: The Gulf Example

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

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The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) has found great difficulty in codifying the international customary rules governing the delimitation of the sea-bed boundaries. The latest draft of the future convention on the law of the sea is the revised Informal Composite Negotiating Text (ICNT Rev/1), which was debated at the ninth session of UNCLOS HI during March 3 – April 4, 1980. Article 83 of the ICNT Rev/1 provides that the delimitation of the continental shelf should be effected by agreement in accordance with equitable principles, employing where appropriate, the median or equidistant line, and taking account of all relevant circumstances. Furthermore, Article 83(2) of the ICNT Rev/1 states that if no final agreement can be reached within a reasonable period of time, the States concerned should resort to the compulsory procedures provided for in the Part XV. However, Article 298(a) of the ICNT Rev/1 states that disputes concerning sea boundary delimitation between opposite and adjacent States constitute one of the exceptions whereby the party States may declare themselves free from compulsory procedure.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1980

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References

1. For the Revised ICNT, see Nordquist, and Simmonds, , New Directions on the Law of the Sea (London, 1980) p. 134.Google Scholar

2. UN Doc, A/CONF. 13/L.58.

3. 1969 ICJ Reports p. 3.

4. Vallet, F.A., “the continental shelf”, British Yearbook of International Law (23) p. 335, at 336337.Google Scholar

5. UN Doc, A/CN. 4/32, 14 July 1950 p. 108; also A/CN 4/SR. 69, 17 July 1950.

6. United Nations Legislative Series (UNLS), Laws and Regulations on the Regime of the High Seas (Vol. I, 1951) p. 22.Google Scholar

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10. UNLS supra n. 8 p. 27.

11. Ibid. p. 24.

12. Ibid. p. 152.

13. Albaharna, H.M., The Legal Status of the Arabian Gulf States, (Manchester, 1968) p. 289.Google Scholar

14. UNLS, op.cit., n. 8 p. 403.Google Scholar

15. UNLS, National Legislation and Treaties Relating to the Law of the Sea, New York, 1976 (ST/LEG/SER. B/18) p. 403.Google Scholar

16. Middle East Economic Survey.

17. UNLS, op.cit., n. 8 p. 428.Google Scholar

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19. Ibid. pp. 97–98.

20. Ibid. p. 24.

21. UN Doc., A/CONF. 13/C. 4/L. 25/Rev. 1, at p. 133.

22. 1958 (UNCLOS) Official Records, Vol. VI, Fourth Committee, 33rd meeting, para. 2, at p. 96.

23. Ibid p. 92 and 142.

24. Movahhid, M.A., naft-i ma va masael-i huquqi-i an (our oil and its legal problems) (Teheran, 1970) p. 237.Google Scholar

25. UN Doc. A/CONF. 13/SR. 9 p. 3.

26. Supra n. 17 p. 92.

27. UNLS, op.cit. n. 15 p. 404.Google Scholar

28. Mouton, M.W., The Continental Shelf (The Hague, 1952) p. 295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29. 1963 Middle East Economic Survey, (nos. 32 and 38).

30. UNLS supra n. 8 p. 413.Google Scholar

31. UNLS supra n. 15 p. 452.Google Scholar

32. Ibid. p. 404.

33. UNLS supra n. 8 p. 416.Google Scholar

34. Ibid. p. 428.

35. Iran, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives (Teheran, 1974). For a detailed legal analysis see Amin, S.H., International and Legal Problems of the Gulf (Cambridge, 1980) pp. 5898.Google Scholar