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The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
The Tribunal, which is based in Hamburg, Germany, was established following the entry into force of the Convention in 1994 and became fully operational in 1996.
The Tribunal may obtain jurisdiction in several ways. First, the Tribunal may have jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention when all parties to such a dispute have selected the Tribunal as a first choice among the dispute settlement options provided by the Convention.
The Tribunal may obtain jurisdiction when it has been selected for this purpose by the parties to the dispute through a special agreement. In addition, the Tribunal may issue advisory opinions in certain instances. A total of nineteen cases have been submitted to the Tribunal since its inception, covering issues such as prompt release, provisional measures, and maritime boundary delimitation. The Tribunal has adjudicated 16 of these cases.