Governance Principles for Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

There is a widely held view that there is a need to formulate a comprehensive set of general principles for the legal regime of maritime areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). On the basis of existing suggestions for a list of governance principles, the present report investigates how these principles might be formulated in more detail. The report concludes that most of the principles are already part of international law. The report submits that an advantage of drawing up an instrument on governance principles for ABNJ would be that it brings them together in one single document and would unequivocally recognize their relevance. To be effective, such an instrument should, in addition: contain commitments to apply and operationalize these principles; identify institutions and other actors which have a role in the implementation of these principles; and provide for reporting by these institutions and other actors to a global body allowing the assessment of the stage of implementation of the principles.