Determining the Scope of the Local Remedies Rule in unclos Disputes

Art. 295 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (unclos) embodies the rule of prior exhaustion of local remedies by making a renvoi to cases where the application of the rule is required by international law. In the practice of the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea (itlos) and Annex vii Tribunals, States continuously raise preliminary objections based on Art. 295. However, such tribunals have never found the local remedies rule applicable. In this paper, it is argued that the approach taken by unclos Tribunals towards the applicability of the local remedies rule is not persuasive since, absent proper reasoning, it fails to align with – or expressly depart from – what appears to be the present state of international law on the topic. Furthermore, the above practice undermines the effectiveness of Art. 295 and calls into question the actual relevance of the local remedies rule within unclos disputes. In the present article the approach followed by unclos Tribunals with respect to the applicability of the local remedies rule is assessed against a reconsideration of the issue of mixed claims and the specific regime set forth in the Law of the Sea Convention. In the concluding section the approach taken in unclos Tribunals’ case law is considered in light of recent criticisms pointing out the current improper expansion of the jurisdiction under unclos Part xv.