The Legal Framework for the Regulation of Safety and Environmental Issues on the Outer Continental Shelf

To date, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has issued 14 recommendations relating to the outer continental shelf of 15 states. As of 2010, there were in excess of 50 full submissions and 40 partial submissions that had been lodged with the Comission. If most (or all) of these submissions are upheld, then many states will have to consider how to appropriatley regulate activities on the continental shelf. The main complicating factor for the OCS is that, above the shelf, the freedoms of the high seas prevail. Article 78 establishes that the rights of the coastal State over the continental shelf do not affect the legal status of the superjacent waters. In addition, “the exercise of the coastal State over the continental shelf must not infringe or result in any unjustifiable interference with navigation and other rights and freedoms of other States”. This paper considers the implications of this legal framework for safety and environmental regulation of activities taking place on and above the OCS