(a) Information reported by the Chair of the Commission (SPLOS/34/7)

Madam/Mister President,

The European Union and its Member States would like to thank the Chair of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, Mr Aldino Campos, for his letter dated 1 April 2024 containing information about the progress of work of the Commission since the thirty-third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), held in June 2023

The European Union and its Member States would also like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude to the current members of the Commission for their sterling work in the fulfilment of the significant mandate entrusted to it by UNCLOS. In addition, we would like to express our condolences to the family and colleagues of Ivan Glumov, who served as a member of the Commission from 2012 to 2023, including as Vice-Chair from 2012 to 2019.

We would like to reiterate our support for the work of the Commission, which is essential to the process of coastal States’ determination of the areas in which they exercise their sovereign rights, and therefore is instrumental in refining the limits of the international seabed area.

We also wish to extend our gratitude to the Chair of the Commission, Mr Campos, and the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea for the tremendous services rendered to the Commission.

Madam/Mister President,

The European Union and its Member States note with satisfaction that the Commission has continued its work, including by holding its fifty-seventh, fifty-eighth, fifty-nineth and sixtieth sessions in 2023 and 2024. We are also pleased to note that during the reporting period the Commission approved two sets of recommendations.

The current backlog of more than 14 years experienced by submitting states between their submission and the establishment of a subcommission remains a concern. In this respect, we welcome the establishment of the merged open-ended working group on the working methods and technical needs of the Commission with a view to enhancing efficiency.

We note the Commission’s plan regarding the pattern of annual meetings as described in Annex I of the letter mentioned earlier. We share the Chair of the Commission’s opinion that it is important to increase efficiency, minimise the challenges faced by some individual members, and maintain or improve the current level of progress.

We also note the alignment of the rules of procedure with the practice resulting from decisions taken by the Commission since the adoption of the rules currently in force to improve the efficiency of its working methods and accommodate its future working needs. We also note that a consolidated draft of the revised rules will be shared for consideration at the Commission’s sixty-first session.

Finally, we are pleased by and welcome the Commission’s decision to re-establish the Training Committee as a way forward to address capacity-building requirements for the development of the expertise required to facilitate the preparation, making and maintenance of submissions to the Commission and their consideration by the Commission.

Thank you, Madam/Mister President.

(b) Conditions of service of members of the Commission

Madam/Mister President,

In addition to the issues posed by the workload of the Commission, challenges related to the conditions of service of the members of the Commission still remain in need of our consideration.

The European Union and its Member States would like to encourage the Co-Coordinators of the Open-ended Working Group on the Conditions of Service of the Members of the Commission to redouble their efforts to try to find an appropriate solution which would be both pragmatic and satisfactory.

We will continue to engage on this issue with other delegations to find a sustainable solution that ensures the full participation of all members in the meetings of the Commission, and consequently the fulfilment of the Commission’s functions under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in an efficient and timely manner.

Thank you, Madam/Mister President.