Les revendications des Etats côtiers de l'océan arctique sur le plateau continental au-delà de 200 milles marins

The process of climate change currently gripping the planet has aroused a growing interest on the part of many countries in the Arctic region, and in the new economic opportunities opening up there. Control of the region is therefore the centre of several controversies, notably between coastal States concerned by the region. In contrast to the Antarctic, the Arctic zone is not subject to a particular international legal regime. The resolution of these disputes must therefore be sought in the application of rules fixed by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which all coastal States along the Article Ocean are parties, with the exception of the United States. It is also worth noting that many of the substantive norms of the Convention, including those under Article 76 on the definition of the Continental Shelf, codify, according to common opinion, the general international law as concerns the Law of the Sea. In particular, the possibility under the Convention to extend the Continental Shelf beyond 200 nautical miles has given rise, in recent years, to the most important disputes between the coastal States of the Arctic Ocean. Article 76(8) of the Convention establishes the procedure that coastal States must activate if they seek to extend the Shelf beyond the 200-mile boundary. This norm is the point of departure of the inquiry presented here on the method to be used for the definition of the external limit of the Continental Shelf. The purpose of the Article is to verify not only interpretative problems but also any possible difficulties that could arise in the application of the rule by the Committee on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), the competent organ under the Convention. Finally, attention is given to the special regime under the Convention which imposes important constraints on the exclusive rights of coastal States to exploit the part of the Shelf beyond the 200-mile mark. The Article also provides a description of the submissions presented to the CLCS by Russia and by Norway, and of the aspirations of the other coastal States of the Arctic.