The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a release yesterday, said the information was submitted on May 12, 2009, to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLSCS) by the Permanent Mission of Guyana to the United Nations.

Guyana’s preparation of its full submission to the United Nations pursuant to Article 76 of UNCLOS is at an advanced stage, and will be submitted before the end of August.

According to the Ministry, the provision of the information to the UN was made without prejudice to future maritime delimitation with neighbouring states.

Under the provisions of Article 76 of UNCLOS, coastal states, after meeting strictly specified technical and scientific criteria, may, with the recommendation of the UNCLCOS exercise jurisdiction over a maximum of 150 nautical miles beyond the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Guyana signed the UNCLOS (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, p. 3) on December 10, 1982, and became a State Party to the Convention when it deposited the sixtieth instrument of ratification on November 16, 1993.

The Convention entered into force 12 months later on November 16, 1994.

The continental shelf of a coastal state comprises the sea-bed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. (GINA)