The Dispute Settlement System of the Future Third UNCLOS Implementation Agreement on Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ): a Preliminary Analysis

Abstract

This article analyses the possible system of dispute settlement within the future implementation agreement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. In order to explain the dispute settlement system foreseen in UNCLOS Part XV, that likely will be adopted by the BBNJ Agreement, its main aspects are addressed in addition to, specially, its reception by the Part VIII of the implementation agreement on straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks. In this sense, the current terms of the draft agreement point out a new broad reception of the dispute settlement system of the Convention. Finally, taking into account the highly technic character of the disputes in this field, the article reflects on the possible convenience of changing the default mechanism for these disputes from the Annex VII arbitration to a more specialized jurisdictional organ, either the Annex VIII special arbitration or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Keywords

• bbnj agreement
• settlement of disputes
• unclos part xv
• straddling fish stocks agreement
• law of the sea