Chapter 11
The Challenges of the Commission
on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
Aldino Santos de Campos
Abstract The UNCLOS is one of the most important multilateral agreements
achieved by humankind. For the first time in our history we have one global
document that has an effective impact over seventy percent of our planet’s surface.
Adopted in 1982, after nine years of intense negotiations, during the Third United
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, this convention reflects, in a unique
package, a multitude of issues that challenged the relationship among the nations in
the past. It also sets some new challenges when breaking down our global and
continuous ocean into several distinct geographic domains. While some of these
domains were inherit from previously agreed conventions, such as the Territorial
Sea, Continuous Zone and the High Seas, some others were introduced as new, such
as the EEZ and the Area. Within the set of the maritime domains, the concept of legal
continental shelf was thoroughly reviewed during the Third Conference, handing up
in an agreed complex formulae to establish its outer limit. As an exercise of
sovereignty, these outer limits are defined by coastal States and, the latter one, the
continental shelf, must be submitted to the CLCS that issues recommendations in
order to be accepted by the international community. This chapter describes the
evolution of the concept of the continental shelf in international law and addresses
the role and the challenges for the CLCS when considering the coastal States’
submissions to establish the outer limits in accordance with Article 76 of UNCLOS.
Member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (2017–2022). The views
expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Commission on the Limits of the Continental.
A. S. de Campos (*)
Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI-NOVA), Lisbon, Portugal
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. C. Ribeiro et al. (eds.), Global Challenges and the Law of the Sea,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42671-2_11
191
The Challenges of the Commission
on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
Aldino Santos de Campos
Abstract The UNCLOS is one of the most important multilateral agreements
achieved by humankind. For the first time in our history we have one global
document that has an effective impact over seventy percent of our planet’s surface.
Adopted in 1982, after nine years of intense negotiations, during the Third United
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, this convention reflects, in a unique
package, a multitude of issues that challenged the relationship among the nations in
the past. It also sets some new challenges when breaking down our global and
continuous ocean into several distinct geographic domains. While some of these
domains were inherit from previously agreed conventions, such as the Territorial
Sea, Continuous Zone and the High Seas, some others were introduced as new, such
as the EEZ and the Area. Within the set of the maritime domains, the concept of legal
continental shelf was thoroughly reviewed during the Third Conference, handing up
in an agreed complex formulae to establish its outer limit. As an exercise of
sovereignty, these outer limits are defined by coastal States and, the latter one, the
continental shelf, must be submitted to the CLCS that issues recommendations in
order to be accepted by the international community. This chapter describes the
evolution of the concept of the continental shelf in international law and addresses
the role and the challenges for the CLCS when considering the coastal States’
submissions to establish the outer limits in accordance with Article 76 of UNCLOS.
Member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (2017–2022). The views
expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Commission on the Limits of the Continental.
A. S. de Campos (*)
Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI-NOVA), Lisbon, Portugal
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. C. Ribeiro et al. (eds.), Global Challenges and the Law of the Sea,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42671-2_11
191