ITLOS: Consent To Contentious Jurisdiction

Must be given.

As a rule, consent to the Tribunal's jurisdiction must be given expressly. However, the ITLOS also enjoys mandatory jurisdiction over all States party to the UNCLOS in some specific cause of actions (prompt release of detained vessels and crews and requests for provisional measures in certain circumstances (1), and may receive cases on the basis of international agreements other than the UNCLOS. The SBDC has mandatory jurisdiction under Part XI of the UNCLOS and the Annexes relating thereto in disputes with respect to activities in the Area falling within certain categories (2).
Disputes arising under the UNCLOS between States Parties are subject to compulsory procedures that entail binding decisions (with the exception of a few specific categories of disputes (3)). States Parties may select, upon ratification of the UNCLOS, one or more dispute settlement mechanisms from a menu of four procedures enumerated in article 287 of the UNCLOS, the "choice of procedure" clause. The four alternatives are: the International Court of Justice, the ITLOS, arbitration or special arbitration. In the event two States have selected the same procedure, it will apply in disputes between them (4). In the absence of agreement concerning the adjudication forum, the disputes will be referred to arbitration in accordance with Annex VII(5).
Part XV of UNCLOS, concerning the settlement of disputes, does not apply if the States Parties to the disputes agree to submit the dispute to another procedure (6). The UNCLOS also provides that a States party may only have recourse to the procedures provided for by section 2 of Part XV "only after local remedies have been exhausted where this is required by international law." (7)

Notes

1 UNCLOS, art 292.1: "[T]he question of release from detention may be submitted to any court or tribunal agreed upon by the parties or, failing such agreement within 10 days from the time of detention, to a court or tribunal accepted by the detaining state under article 287 or to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, unless the parties agree otherwise." UNCLOS, art. 290.5: "Pending the constitution of an arbitral tribunal to which a dispute is being submitted under this section, any court or tribunal agreed upon by the parties or, failing such agreement within two weeks from the date of the request for provisional measures, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or, with respect to activities in the Area, the Seabed Disputes Chamber, may prescribe, modify or revoke provisional measures in accordance with this article…".

2 UNCLOS, art. 187.

3 UNCLOS, art. 298.1; A State may declare that it does not accept anyone or more of the procedures provided for in section 2 (Part XV) with respect to:
"(a)(i) disputes concerning the interpretation or application of articles 15, 74, 83 relating to sea boundary delimitations, or those involving historic bays or titles…;
(b) disputes concerning military activities…;
(c) disputes in respect of which the Security Council of the United Nations is exercising the functions assigned to it by the Charter of the United Nations, unless the Security Council decides to remove the matter from its agenda or calls upon the parties to settle it by the means provided for in this Convention." UNCLOS, art. 284.1: "A State Party which is a party to a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention may invite the other party or parties to submit the dispute to conciliation in accordance with the procedure under annex V, section 1, or another conciliation procedure."
UNCLOS, art. 285: "This section applies to any dispute which pursuant to Part XI, section 5, is to be settled in accordance with procedures provided for in this part. If an entity other than a State Party is a party to such a dispute, this section applies mutatis mutandis."

4 UNCLOS, art. 287.4.

5 UNCLOS, art. 287.3, art. 287.5.

6 UNCLOS, art 282: "If the States Parties which are parties to a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention have agreed, through a general, regional or bilateral agreement or otherwise, that such dispute shall, at the request of any party to the dispute, be submitted to a procedure that entails a binding decision, that procedure shall apply in lieu of the procedures provided for in this Part, unless the parties to the dispute otherwise agree."

7 UNCLOS, art. 295.