The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) establishes a comprehensive dispute settlement mechanism applicable to any dispute, subject to the exhaustive list of limitations and optional exceptions in Section 3, concerning the interpretation or application of UNCLOS. A complex topic that has arisen in several disputes regarding the application of UNCLOS is how to…

Introduction In a 2023 post on EJIL: Talk!, one of the authors to this post addressed some of the conclusions that follow from the recommendations of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) of 6 February 2023 in regard to the consideration of the revised…

In Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (NICOL II), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) observed a general trend in which coastal States had “chosen not to assert” outer continental shelf entitlement “within 200 nautical miles of the baselines of another…