Unclos 1982 Commentary

UNCLOS 1982 Commentary: Supplementary Materials complements the seven-volume series United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary. The documents in this volume contain legal authorities, guidelines and agreements associated with the Convention. The Supplement focuses on the three new international organizations created by the Convention: The International Seabed Authority, The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The volume also includes international fisheries agreements associated with the 1982 Convention and additional supplementary documents and materials. UNCLOS 1982 Commentary: Supplementary Materials is an invaluable resource for international law practitioners, maritime law specialists, educators, government and military authorities, and others interested in the UN Law of the Sea Convention.

This Supplement to the seven-volume series United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, A Commentary, prepared at the University of Virginia’s Center for Oceans Law and Policy, contains additional primary documents and materials directly related to the Convention.

These commentaries are based almost entirely on the formal and informal documentation of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III, 1973-1982), coupled, where necessary, with the personal knowledge of editors, contributors, or reviewers, many of whom were principal negotiators or UN personnel who participated in the Conference.

These commentaries are based almost entirely on the formal and informal documentation of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III, 1973-1982), coupled, where necessary, with the personal knowledge of editors, contributors, or reviewers, many of whom were principal negotiators or UN personnel who participated in the Conference.

This Supplement to the seven-volume series United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, A Commentary, prepared at the University of Virginia’s Center for Oceans Law and Policy, contains additional primary documents and materials directly related to the Convention.

This is the seventh and final volume of the most authoritative reference on the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III, 1973-1982). The volume provides the original text of the 1982 convention as fully integrated with the provisions of the 1994 Agreement on the Implementation of XI, in addition to an extensive subject index to Volumes I through VI of the series.

Definitions for the Law of the Sea elucidates undefined terms and phrases used in The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) itself, as well as terms used in its analysis. Based on nearly a decade of work by the American Branch of the International Law Association’s Law of the Sea Committee, the volume provides clear definitions based on usage in the Convention, rather than geographical or geological concepts. Over 200 terms are defined in the text, alongside analyses and commentary prepared by prominent experts in the field of oceans law. Abbreviated citation forms used throughout the volume are clarified, and relevant documents are included with updated references. Definitions for the Law of the Sea is an indispensable source for governmental officials, academics and practitioners of oceans law, and serves as a supplement to the multi-volume United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary.

Volume VI is the sixth substantive volume to be published in the series. It deals with the work of the First Committee at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, namely the international seabed area. The volume thus embraces the deep seabed mining regime set out in Part XI of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea together with the 1994 Agreement on its implementation. Completion of this commentary was delayed first by the consultations and negotiations that commenced in 1990 and led to the 1994 Agreement and the entry into force of the Convention. It was further delayed until the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority approved the detailed mining regulations in 2000. Additional supplementary material can be found at UNCLOS 1982 Commentary: Supplementary Documents.

The textbook was first published 1988. The guiding potential to find access to the 1982 UN Convention is still given, and we invite you to make this valuable tool available again.

The right of transit passage in straits and the analogous right of archipelagic sealanes passage in archipelagic states, negotiated in the 1970s and embodied in the 1982 UNCLOS, sought to approximate the freedom of navigation and overflight while expressly recognising the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the coastal state over the waters concerned. However, the allocation of rights and duties of the coastal state and third states is open to interpretation. Recent developments in state practice, such as Australia's requirement of compulsory pilotage in the Torres Strait, the bridge across the Great Belt and the proposals for a bridge across the Strait of Messina, the enhanced environmental standards applicable in the Strait of Bonifacio and Canada's claims over the Arctic Route, make it necessary to reassess the whole common law of straits. The Legal Regime of Straits examines the complex relationship between the coastal state and the international community.