territorial sea subject to international standards designed to ensure 

 conservation, maximum utilization, and equitable allocation. 



With regard to marine pollution, the United States proposed, at the 

 July and August 1972 session, that Subcommittee III focus attention 

 on basic legal principles which could be drawn from the conclusions 

 of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held 

 in Stockholm, June 5-16, 1972. Such principles could form the basis 

 for general treaty articles. The United States urged the 

 Subcommittee to concentrate on controlling pollution from vessels 

 and identified several important steps to be taken in this regard to 

 support IMCO's activities. The United States also suggested that the 

 Subcommittee urge IMCO to give greater consideration to coastal 

 states' concerns and proposed that IMCO should require all new 

 commercial tankers to carry an international construction certificate 

 with port-state verification of possession. The U. S. Delegation 

 further proposed that international traffic separation schemes, 

 which are now voluntary, should be mandatory for all ships, with 

 strict liability for accidents caused by deviations from IMCO 

 regulations. The United States also suggested that the 1969 

 Intervention Convention, which gives coastal states certain limited 

 rights to take actions on the high seas to prevent oil pollution of their 

 coastlines following maritime accidents, should be expanded by 

 IMCO to apply to other noxious substances. 



Subcommittee III established a Working Group on marine 

 pollution. The Group has a mandate to examine the Stockholm 

 Declaration on the Human Environment and the Stockholm 

 principles on marine pollution with a view towards drafting articles 

 on marine pollution for a law of the sea treaty. 



The issue of scientific research was addressed by the delegations 

 of 18 nations during the July-August 1972 meeting of Subcommittee 

 III. The African, Asian, and Latin-American nations in general took a 

 position which did not recognize the freedom of scientific research. 

 They felt, instead, that all research should be regulated by the 

 coastal state or an international regime to be established. This stance 

 against the freedom of scientific research by African, Asian, and 

 Latin-American nations stems from their belief that the developing 

 nations derive no economic benefits from the research conducted off 

 their coasts by the developed countries. 



In contrast to the views of African, Asian, and Latin-American 

 nations were the positions of the developed nations, such as the 

 United States, Japan, and generally speaking, the nations of both 

 Western and Eastern Europe. These nations wanted no additional 

 restrictions on the freedom to conduct scientific research, or they 

 wanted such restrictions to be kept to a minimum. They also 

 generally desired to adopt principles or guidelines which would 

 facilitate research within waters under the control of the coastal 

 state. They generally recognized the importance of transferring 

 marine scientific knowledge and technology to the developing 



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