Letter from Richard Cooke, Parliamentary
Relations Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Thank you for letter of 13 November, in which
you requested additional information in respect of FCO activity
as regards sovereign rights to parts of the seabed—and in
particular, the areas around Ascension Island, British Antarctic
Territory and around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.
I am pleased to enclose a comprehensive brief
on the issue.
1. Under the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea, the UK has until May 2009 to submit claims
for an extended continental shelf to the Commission on the Limits
of the Continental Shelf. We have already made one submission
to the Commission, and we are presently considering four others.
Details are set out below. The UK is one of some 40-50 States
expected to make submissions. The process is not, as some media
reports have suggested, a free-for-all "land grab",
but a long-term UN process to establish by consensus under international
law, an effective delimitation of continental shelf where sovereign
rights apply, from the remainder of the seabed which is under
the control of the International Seabed Authority. Sovereign rights
over the extended continental shelf would allow Parliament and
other British authorities to determine the nature and scope of
any activities proposed to take place on the shelf, and prevent
unsustainable exploitation which otherwise might have taken place.
NB this is unlikely to be the case for the Antarctic which is
afforded comprehensive environmental protection under the Antarctic
Treaty System.
2. Article 76 of the UN Convention defines
the continental shelf of a coastal State as extending in the first
instance to a distance 200 nautical miles from the shoreline.
The Convention further provides that a State's continental shelf
may extend beyond 200 miles, but only if specified geological
conditions can be satisfied. In order to establish this, States
are required under the Convention to submit detailed information
to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which
then makes recommendations concerning the establishment of an
extended outer limit. The coastal State must then establish final
limits on the basis of the Commission's recommendations. Under
the terms of the UN Convention, all States parties have up to
ten years following ratification by which they have to submit
any claims. For States which ratified prior to 1999, that deadline
was extended by an agreement of States Parties to May 2009. The
UK ratified the Convention in July 1997, and therefore currently
works to the May 2009 deadline.
3. Any continental shelf gives the coastal
State sovereign rights over the seabed and the subsoil thereof.
No such rights accrue in respect of the water column or fishery
resources beyond 200 nautical miles. Seabed areas not falling
under any national jurisdiction will be designated as being for
the "benefit of mankind", and be regulated by the International
Seabed Authority. It is therefore in the long-term interests of
the UK to secure its sovereign rights to the continental shelf
at this time, as provided for under international law.
4. Some potential UK claims may overlap
with those of other States (see below). In cases where a dispute
exists between the coastal States concerned, the Rules of Procedure
of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf require
it to decline to examine any submission, until the said disputes
are resolved. Ideally then, the States concerned will agree on
a common approach before submitting to the Commission.
5. The UK has made one claim and is considering
four others. These five claims—both in respect of the mainland
UK and overseas territories—are:
FALKLAND ISLANDS
AND SOUTH
GEORGIA
6. The UK is currently researching its submission
to the Commission in respect of the continental shelf around the
Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Our plans for the submission
have not been finalised. We have already had useful contacts on
the issue with technical and legal experts from the Argentine
MFA with a view to making a joint submission without prejudice
to rival sovereignty claims. Meetings took place in 2001 and 2004.
In June this year, we proposed a further meeting. If this goes
ahead as hoped, it will further demonstrate UK commitment to co-operation
on areas of mutual interest in the South Atlantic.
7. The UK has no doubts about its sovereignty
over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia—nor its right
to submit a claim to extend the continental shelf.
ASCENSION ISLAND
8. The UK is considering a submission to
the Commission in respect of the continental shelf around Ascension
Island. No decisions have been taken.
BRITISH ANTARCTIC
TERRITORY
9. The press reports on the UK's handling
of continental shelf matters around the British Antarctic Territory
were wholly inaccurate. Contrary to the reports, the UK has not
made any announcements, or final decisions, about its approach
to the UN Commission for the Limits of Continental Shelf. The
UK will make its intentions known to the Commission prior to the
deadline in 2009.
10. The UK is fully committed to upholding
the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty including the Protocol
on Environmental Protection and its clear prohibition on minerals
related activity. The Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic,
agreed in 1991, prohibits all minerals related activity, other
than for scientific research. Any change to this ban would need
to be agreed by all Antarctic Treaty Parties and would first require
adoption of a new and binding agreement, including an agreed means
for determining whether, and if so, under what conditions, any
such activities would be acceptable. The UK is committed to upholding
the indefinite ban and to ensuring the highest possible standards
of environmental protection in Antarctica.
BAY OF
BISCAY
11. As noted above, the UK has made one
submission to the Commission on the Limits to the Continental
Shelf in respect of the Bay of Biscay—a region where the
interests of four neighbouring countries overlap. This submission
was made in 2006 together with France, Ireland and Spain, and
is the first example of a joint submission to the Commission.
The submission followed negotiations over a number of years between
the States concerned. It represents an example of international
co-operation on a highly technical and politically sensitive matter.
The four States continue to co-operate in working with the Commission
towards the production of its conclusions.
HATTON-ROCKALL
12. The UK is also engaged in similar negotiations
with Ireland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands in respect of the
Hatton-Rockall basin, where again there are overlapping interests.
Geological and morphological conditions are more complicated in
this area and a final agreement has yet to be reached. However
all States continue to work towards the May 2009 deadline.
13 December 2007
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