Shelf North of the Faroe Islands recognised by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

Published 25-03-2014

On 14 March 2014, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, recognised the claimed entitlement of the Kingdom of Denmark to an outer continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles north of the Faroe Islands.

The area covers 87,792 square kilometres of continental shelf and was submitted to the CLCS on 29 April 2009.


The CLCS endorsed the entire area claimed by the Government of Denmark together with the Government of the Faroes, thereby confirming the sovereign rights of Denmark/Faroes to exercise sovereign rights in this area in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.


The neighbouring States of Norway and Iceland have overlapping claims to parts of the area in question. As a consequence of this, Denmark/Faroes, Iceland and Norway agreed in 2006 to a prospective procedure on how to delimit the area of mutual interest.


A prerequisite for making effective this agreement is that the CLCS endorses each State's submission to the relevant area. Norway received its relevant recommendations in March 2009. Denmark/Faroes and Norway now await the completion of the submission of Iceland, which is currently pending, in order to finalise the three bilateral delimitation agreements.

Further information on a76.dk.

The area of 87,792 square kilometres

The 87,792 km 2 continental shelf area
Enlarge