Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf Concludes Forty-Second Session

NEW YORK, 6 December (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its forty-second session at United Nations Headquarters from 17 October to 2 December 2016.

The Commission, working through its subcommissions, devoted seven weeks to the technical examination of submissions at the Geographic Information Systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

Nine subcommissions worked during the forty-second session.  These were the subcommissions established for consideration of the submissions made by:  the Russian Federation in respect of the Arctic Ocean (partial revised submission); Brazil in respect of the Brazilian southern region (partial revised submission); France and South Africa, jointly, in respect of the area of the Crozet Archipelago and the Prince Edward Islands; Kenya; Nigeria; Seychelles in respect of the Northern Plateau region; France in respect of La Réunion Island and Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Islands; Côte d'Ivoire; and Sri Lanka.

In 2017, the Commission is scheduled to hold three sessions as follows:  the forty-third session would be held from 30 January to 17 March 2017, with plenary sessions from 13 to 17 February and from 6 to 17 March 2017, including a half‑day open meeting on 10  March 2017 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Commission; the forty-fourth session would be held from 24 July to 8 September 2017, with plenary sessions on 24 July and from 28 to 31 August 2017; and the forty-fifth session would be held from 16 October to 1 December 2017, without plenary sessions.

As required under the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, the executive summaries of all submissions, including all charts and coordinates, have been made public by the Secretary‑General through continental shelf notifications circulated to Member States of the United Nations, as well as States parties to the Convention.  The executive summaries are available on the Division’s website at www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm.  The summaries of recommendations adopted by the Commission are also available on the above-referenced website.

Details of the forty-second session will be reflected in the Statement by the Chairperson of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the progress of work in the Commission, which will be issued as document CLCS/96.

For additional information on the work of the Commission, see the website of the Division at www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm.