Article 3 of Annex II to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 stipulates that the functions of the Commission shall be:
(a) to consider the data and other material submitted by coastal States concerning the outer limits of the continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles, and to make recommendations in accordance with article 76 and the Statement of Understanding adopted on 29 August 1980 by the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea;
(b) to provide scientific and technical advice, if requested by the coastal State concerned during the preparation of the data referred to in subparagraph (a).
In June 1997, at its first session, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf established a subsidiary body - the Standing Committee on provision of scientific and technical advice to coastal States.
In 2023, at its fifty-eighth session, the Commission renewed the composition of this Committee and appointed Lawrence Apaalse, Helena Inniss, David Cole Mosher and Rajan Sivaramakrishnan as members. The Committee elected Mr. Mosher as Chair and Mr. Sivaramakrishnan as Vice-Chair, in 2024, at its sixtieth session, the Commission appointed Michal Tomczak to the Committee.
The Commission determined that advice provided by a member of the Commission does not commit the subcommission and the Commission when deliberating on the merits of a submission and should not be prejudicial to such deliberation.
Requests for advice and assistance should be addressed to the Secretary of the Commission. It would be helpful to the Scientific and Technical Advice Committee in fulfilling its functions if States could specify details of the nature of the assistance required to enable the Committee to prepare a list of the 損roposed members who may provide advice taking into consideration the technical and scientific nature of each request�.
The coastal States requesting the scientific and technical advice shall defray the expenses incurred in respect of this advice (see article 3, paragraph 1(b), of annex II to the Convention, and rule 9, paragraph 2, of the rules of procedure of the Commission).