The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: The Ninth Session (1980)
![handle is hein.journals/ajil75 and id is 217 raw text is: THE THIRD UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
THE LAW OF THE SEA: THE NINTH SESSION (1980)
By Bernard H. Oxman*
I. INTRODUCTION**
The ninth session of the Third -United Nations Conference on the Law
of the Sea met in New York from February 27 to April 4, and in Geneva
from July 28 to August 29, 1980. In addition, the Drafting Committee met
for 3 weeks in June in New York.'
At the end of the New York part of the session, the leadership2 issued
a second revision of the Informal Composite Negotiating Text (ICNT/Rev.
2). 3 At the resumed session, the text was revised again by the leadership4
and issued as the Draft Convention on the Law of the Sea (Informal Text)
before the session closed.- The issuance of both texts was preceded by de-
bate in Plenary on the textual revisions proposed by the various chairmen.
The general perception was that the new informal text of the Draft Con-
vention brings a decade of informal negotiation closer to completion. The
conference had decided earlier, however, to defer further consideration of
three important matters to the tenth session: (1) completion of the resolution
setting up a commission to prepare for the establishment of the Inter-
* Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law. United States Representative and
Vice Chairman of the U.S. delegation, and Chairman of the English Language Group of the
Drafting Committee, at the ninth session of the Law of the Sea Conference. The views ex-
pressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Depart-
ment of State, the U.S. Government, or the English Language Group or Drafting Committee
of the conference.
** This article was completed prior to the issuance of the following statement by the
Department of State on March 2, 1981:
After consultations with the other interested Departments and Agencies of the United
States Go% ernment, the Secretary of State has instructed our representative to the UN Law
of the Sea Conference to seek to ensure that the negotiations do not end at the present
session of the Conference, pending a policy review by the United States Government.
The interested Departments and Agencies have begun studies of the serious problems
raised by the Draft Convention, and these will be the subject of a thorough review which
will determine our position toward the negotiations.
'This article is a sequel to Stevenson & Oxman, The Preparations for the Law of the Sea
Conference, 68 AJIL 1 (1974); The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: The
1974 Caracas Session, 69 AJIL 1 (1975);-The 1975 Geneva Session, 69 AJIL 763 (1975);
and Oxman, The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: The 1976 New York
Ses in, 71 AJIL 247 (1977);-The 1977 New York Sessions, 72 AJIL 57 (1978);-The Seventh
Session (1978), 73 AJIL I (1979);-The Eighth Session (1979), 74 AJIL 1 (1980).
,The procedure is set forth in UN Doc. AICONF.62/62 (1978), 10 THIRD UN CONFERENCE
ON THE LAW oF THE SEA, OFFICIAL RECORDS 6 (1978) [hereinafter cited as OFF. REc.], dis-
cussed at 73 AJIL 3-5 and 74 AJIL 2.
SUN Doc. A/CONF.62/WP.10/Rev.2 (1980).
Following the same procedure. See note 2 supra.
UN Doc. A/CONF.62/WP.10/Rev.3, and Add.1 and Corrs. 1-6 (1980) [hereinafter
referred to in the text as the Draft Convention and in notes as DC(IT)].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ajil75&div=20&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: The Ninth Session (1980)
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