The Law of the Sea.

Abstract

After a brief review of the changes in the laws controlling the use of the seas in historical times, the steps leading to the convening of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) in 1973 are described. In particular the role of the Ad Hoc Seabed Committee is outlined. UNCLOS III was organised into three working committees and power delegated to the chairmen of these committees as a mechanism of arriving at decisions through concensus. This led, over a period of eight years, to a series of negotiating texts. In 1981, when adoption of a Convention by concensus appeared near, President Reagan announced a comprehensive policy review before further negotiation. After ten months he set out the changes wanted by the United States in the deep seabed mining provisions. A number of important concessions were made by the Conference, but many developing countries were convinced that the United States was not negotiating in good faith and other compromises were not obtained. Despite the general wish to adopt the Treaty by consensus, the US requested a vote on the acceptance of the Draft Convention and four states voted against acceptance. The key features of the Convention are summarised, and the position of the United States standing outside the Treaty is considered with particular regard to the conduct of scientific research. -J.Harvey