A Study On The Nature Of Recommendations Of CLCS

Although most territorial land boundaries in the world has delimited, many maritime boundaries still remain unsettled. Particularly, the disputes over the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, which is an important part of maritime rights, are escalating in recent years. UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) has played a special role in the settlement of the disputes, and its recommendations have a potential to affect coastal sates' claims over the outer continental shelf. However, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) makes no explicit provisions on CLCS recommendations or their legal effects on coastal states, so it's necessary to make a comprehensive study on its nature. If CLCS recommendations are only for recommendatory purposes as their name indicates, their legal effect will be limited or even dispensable; if they can have a binding force, they may play a decisive role on whether coastal states can obtain an outer continental shelf or not. Only after defining the nature of CLCS recommendations, can relevant coastal states take corresponding counter-measures. This article makes a thorough analysis on the nature of CLCS recommendations from the perspectives of jurisprudence, history, practice and comparison. It contains six chapters besides Introduction and Conclusion:The Introduction explains the reasons for the study on the nature of recommendations of the CLCS. In theory, it is a legal problem with a universal attention and a basis for further research on other outer continental shelf issues. In practice, with increasing states submitting their claims, it is crucial to define the nature of recommendations of the CLCS.The first chapter studies the nature of recommendations of the CLCS from the perspective of jurisprudence with a detailed analysis of provisions of UNCLOS. This chapter studies the concept of recommendations of the CLCS and introduces many scholars' points of view. A normative analysis indicates that the UNCLOS not only endows a necessity which makes the recommendations become binding in procedural law, but also gives them the actual capability that can affect coastal states' outer continental shelf rights in substantial law. Thus, UNCLOS provides a legal basis for the binding force of recommendations of the CLCS.The second chapter is a historical overview of the nature of recommendations of the CLCS. First, the international characteristics of continental shelf demand an international institution to settle the disputes over the delimitation of continental shelf. Second, lawmakers initially intended to endow the recommendations a legally binding force in ascertaining coastal states' outer continental shelf rights in the negotiation of the UNCLOS, but compromised at last that the recommendations could be binding only after the submitting states have accepted them. Third, international legal documents such as the rules of procedure of the commission which was adopted after the CLCS was established further reflect that the intention of lawmakers of the UNCLOS was to endow a legal binding force to CLCS recommendations.The third chapter reviews the nature of recommendations of the CLCS from the perspective of international practice. An analysis of the cases, such as Russia submission, Australia submission and joint submission by France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, indicates that CLCS recommendations have indeed affected coastal states' claims on the outer continental shelf rights from both procedural law and substantial law. In consequence, the coastal states, which submit their claims to the CLCS, have indeed obeyed the recommendations as well. Moreover, the precision of recommendations have further strengthened their biding force, and some dedicate changes in the work of CLCS in practice have also helped to establish the authority of the recommendations among coastal states.The fourth chapter explores the nature of recommendations of the CLCS with a comparative analysis. Comparisons with the recommendations, made by DSB in the WTO, an administrative licensing body, the General Assembly of the UN, and the Commission on Human Rights, have shown both similarities and differences. However, the nature of recommendations of the CLCS is different from any of them, and it is unique and self-contained recommendations that have legal binding forces under specific conditions.Following the previous conclusion, the fifth chapter studies how the recommendations enter into force. First, they are only binding on submitting states; then, they enter into force after these states accept them; further, submitting states, instead of the CLCS, will implement the recommendations. Besides, the binding force of the recommendations will be affected by other factors, such as boundary disputes over continental shelf between opposite or adjacent coastal states, the system of Antarctic Treaty, different opinions from other countries and the compulsory procedures entailing binding decisions in Part XV of the UNCLOS.The sixth chapter discusses the problems confronting China. On one hand, China maritime rights could be seriously affected by other countries' submissions; on the other hand, China also needs to submit the information on the outer continental shelf to the CLCS for claiming its maritime rights. These two aspects are intimately connected with the nature of recommendations of the CLCS. In order to protect its own rights to the utmost, China should take a full consideration of CLCS recommendation's binding force and the factors related when formulating corresponding measures in different situations.