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Select committee: International Relations and Defence Committee

Goverment response to the UNCLOS: The law of the sea in the 21st century? report

Published 9 June 2022

International Relations and Defence Committee UNCLOS: fit for purpose in the 21st century? Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to 2nd Report - UNCLOS: the law of the sea in the 21st century.

This is the government's response, published 9 June 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees with parts of the Committee's report, including that UNCLOS was "a fundamental step forward", but disagrees on using the annual meetings of states parties for substantive issues and takes a cautious approach on fixing baselines.

  • On amending UNCLOS, the Government says that doing so "would be very difficult to achieve and is not considered the most effective option", and is instead working through routes within the UNCLOS framework, including a new implementing Agreement.
  • It states that it "does not agree" that the annual meeting of states parties is an appropriate forum for substantive issues, citing no consensus among states parties.
  • On sea level rise, the Government "intends to take a cautious approach" to fixing baselines, stating its general view that baselines are ambulatory and that it will keep this position under review.
  • On the 1986 Convention on Conditions for Registration of Ships, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is in the early stages of reviewing the UK's position and aims to finish this study this year.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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