The U.N. Law of the Sea Convention

The Convention which resulted from the third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea, established a legal regime governing activities on, over, and under the world’s oceans. In December 1982, when the Convention was opened for signature, the United States and some other industrialized countries did not sign the Convention, maintaining that important changes were needed to the parts that dealt with deep seabed resources beyond national jurisdiction. As a consequence of consultations on these issues, an agreement relating to Part XI of the Convention was adopted on July 28, 1994 and opened for signature. The Convention entered into force on November 16, 1994, and the Agreement entered into force on July 28, 1996. As of June 1, 2005, 148 entities were parties to the Convention and 121 entities were parties to the Agreement.

Fonte: www.oceansatlas.org