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III. Conciliation
1. Institution of Proceedings
If the parties to a dispute have agreed to submit it to conciliation, any such party may institute the proceedings by written notification addressed to the other party or parties to the dispute.[14] However, if the invitation is not accepted or the parties do not agree upon the procedure, the conciliation proceedings shall be deemed to be terminated.[15]
2. List of conciliators[16]
A list of conciliators shall be drawn up and maintained by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Every State Party shall be entitled to nominate four conciliators;
The names of the persons so nominated shall constitute the list.
3. Constitution of conciliation commission[17]
The conciliation commission shall consist of five members.
Each party shall appoint two conciliators to be chosen preferably from the list of conciliators, one of whom may be its national.
Within 30 days after all four conciliators have been appointed, they shall appoint a fifth conciliator chosen from the list, who shall be chairman.
If the appointment is not made within that period, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall make the necessary appointments from the list.
4. Procedure[18]
The conciliation commission shall, unless the parties otherwise agree, determine its own procedure.
The commission may, with the consent of the parties to the dispute, invite any State Party to submit to it its views orally or in writing.
Decisions of the commission regarding procedural matters, the report and recommendations shall be made by a majority vote of its members.
IV. The Compulsory Procedures in General
Declaration Concerning the Choice of Procedure
The disputing parties are given considerable freedom in choosing the precise “compulsory procedure” that must be pursued in order to seek a settlement of the dispute. Under Article 287 of the 1982 Convention, when signing, ratifying or acceding to the 1982 Convention or at any time thereafter, a State shall be free to choose, by means of a written declaration, one or more of the following means for the settlement of disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the 1982 Convention:
(a) the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea;
(b) the International Court of Justice;
(c) an arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VII of the 1982 Convention;
(d) a special arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VIII of the 1982 Convention for one or more of the categories of disputes specified therein.[19]
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