Author

Ph.D. in International Law, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Article 76 of the Law of the Sea Convention is one of the longest and most complicated articles of this Convention. The said article contains a set of substantive and procedural provisions regarding the determination of the outer limits of the continental shelf. The basis of entitlement to the continental shelf is distance from the coast or natural prolongation. On the basis of the distance criterion, to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baseline of the territorial sea, each coastal state is entitled to a continental shelf which is termed inner continental shelf. But according to the natural prolongation criterion, if the outer edge of the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles, then the continental shelf continues to the outer edge of the continental margin which is termed outer continental shelf. In order to determine the outer limits of the outer continental shelf, article 76 provides a series of scientific and technical criteria. Application of these criteria is supervised by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Keywords

 

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