FRONT MATTER.PMD - International Seabed Authority

Contents
iii
Introductory Note
This Compendium of Basic Documents on the Law of the Sea contains the text of
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica,
on 10 December 1982, as well as the text of the Agreement relating to the
Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
adopted by the General Assembly on 28 July 1994, and of the Agreement for the
Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling
Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks of 1995.
In addition, the Compendium includes the official text of the Regulations on
Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the Area, approved by the
Assembly of the International Seabed Authority on 13 July 2000. Also included are
the Final Act of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, containing
an official account, approved and signed by the participants, of the proceedings
leading to the adoption of the Convention (1973-1982), and the four resolutions
adopted by the Conference and related to the Convention, and the Final Act of the
United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish
Stocks (1993-1995). These texts are supplemented by a completely revised subject
index to the Convention, its nine annexes and associated resolutions, the two implementing
Agreements and the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for
Polymetallic Nodules in the Area.
Explanatory material consists of an introduction by the Special Representative of
the Secretary-General of the United Nations (reproduced from the 1983 edition of the
Convention published by the United Nations) and statements delivered at the closing
session of the Conference by its President and by the Secretary-General as well as the
Report of the Secretary-General on outstanding issues relating to the deep seabed mining
provisions of the Convention and statements delivered in the General Assembly
upon the adoption of the 1994 Agreement. In addition, relevant General Assembly
resolutions have been included.
The main contents of this Compendium are as follows:
Table of contents
Introduction and statements
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
General Assembly resolution 48/263 and the Agreement
relating to the implementation of Part XI of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982
Regulations on prospecting and exploration for polymetallic
nodules in the Area
Agreement for the implementation of the provisions of the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of
10 December 1982 relating to the conservation and management
of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks