The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Dispute Settlement under UNCLOS III

1) Introduction

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) is the third international dispute settlement body to be considered in this part of the Manual. It was created by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III). The Convention provides for dispute resolution by way of both arbitration and conciliation, permits disputes to be decided ex aequo et bono (provided the parties agree) and makes provisions for the establishment of a fact-finding Tribunal.

Part XV of UNCLOS III contains the provisions relating to the settlement of disputes. Article 284 in Part XV contains provisions dealing with Conciliation (the detail is set out in Annex V). Article 287 contains the choice of four means for the settlement of disputes relating to the interpretation and application of the Convention: through the Tribunal itself (the ITLOS Statute is set out in Annex VI); through the International Court of Justice (ICJ); through Arbitration (the relevant provisions are contained in Annex VII); or through Special Arbitration (the provisions are set out in Annex VIII).

This chapter will look at the Law of the Sea Convention, the Statute of ITLOS, cases decided by the Tribunal, the Conciliation provisions, the Arbitration provisions and the Special Arbitration provisions.

2) Historical Overview

UNCLOS III came into force on 16 November 1994. In October 1996, the Tribunal began to function at its seat in Hamburg.

The other supranational dispute resolution bodies considered in the Manual - the ICJ, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - were all made the primary court or tribunal by the instruments that created them: the United Nations Charter, the 1899 Hague Peace Conference and the ICSID Convention.

UNCLOS III, on the other hand, gave jurisdiction to resolve disputes not only to ITLOS but also to other tribunals. In all, as noted above, there are four procedures for dispute resolution under the 1982 Convention. The UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures are complex. This is hardly surprising given the complexity of the subject matter: two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and the Convention contains a universal legal regime dealing with, among other things, the territorial sea, exclusive economic zones, the continental shelf and delimitation.

3) The Dispute Resolution Provisions of Part XV of UNCLOS III

Parts of UNCLOS III have been considered earlier in the Manual. For example, Part II of the Convention deals with the territorial sea and contiguous zone; Part V with the exclusive economic zone; and Part VI with the continental shelf. The Part to be considered now is Part XV, which is concerned with dispute resolution.

Part XV is divided into three Sections: Section 1 (Articles 279-285) contains gen...

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