Check against delivery

(a) Information reported by the Chair of the Commission (SPLOS/35/6)

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 11 April 2025 containing information about the progress of work of the Commission since the thirty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), held in June 2024.

The European Union and its Member States would 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 congratulate Artem Kireev for his election at the thirty-fourth Meeting of States Parties. We would also like to commend the election of Ahmed Er Raji, who filled a vacant seat in the Commission resulting from the resignation of its previous holder. Finally, we would like to applaud the election of David Cole Mosher as a Vice-Chair until 15 December 2025, resulting from the resignation of the previous member. 

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 sixty-first, sixty-second, and sixty-third sessions in 2024 and 2025. We are also pleased to note that during the reporting period the Commission approved three sets of recommendations.

While the waiting time for processing the States’ submission seems to have slightly decreased, the backlog of several years between the submissions and the establishment of a sub-commission remains a concern. 

In this respect, we welcome the Commission’s suggestions to States to take advantage of avenues available to them, such as provisional arrangements of a practical nature as well as activities to enhance efficiency such as that sub-commissions with the same membership could actively consider two submissions in parallel.

We welcome the Commission’s new plan regarding the pattern of annual meetings and the actions taken to facilitate remote work and increase efficiency. We share 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 adoption of the new rules of procedure to reflect the Commission’s current and anticipated working needs and align with the practice resulting from decisions taken by the Commission. 

Finally, we are pleased by the Commission’s progress on re-establishing the Training Committee and developing two five-day outlines for training courses to assist developing States in preparing and making submissions, maintaining the capacity to keep submission material up to date, and preparing for efficient exchanges with the Commission and its subcommissions.

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 thank the Co-Coordinators of the Open-ended Working Group on the Conditions of Service of the Members of the Commission for 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.

(c) Election of Members of the Commission (SPLOS/35/7 and SPLOS/35/8)

Madam/Mister President,

In view of the elections to fill the vacant seat allocated to the Group of Western European and other States, we wish to reiterate our concern regarding the vacant post in the Group of Eastern European States. 

This vacancy has not been filled since 2015 and we hope that an outcome to this situation can be found as soon as possible, either by the proposal of a candidate or by considering alternative solutions. Given the current backlog, a vacant seat is, probably more than ever in the past, prejudicial to the work of the Commission, in particular to the composition of subcommissions.

Thank you, Madam/Mister President.