International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. It was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982. The Convention entered into force on 16 November 1994, and established an international framework for law over "all ocean space, its uses and resources". The ITLOS is one of four dispute resolution mechanisms listed at Article 287 of the UNCLOS.
The tribunal is based in Hamburg, Germany. The Convention also established the International Seabed Authority, with responsibility for the regulation of seabed mining beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, that is beyond the limits of the territorial sea, the contiguous zone and the continental shelf. There are currently 168 signatories, 167 states plus the European Union. As of 2012, holdouts included the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Composition.
According to its founding statute, the Tribunal has a set of 21 judges who serve from a variety of states parties, "according to a method that intends to assure an equitable geographical representation".
At the request of Chile and the European Union, the Tribunal set up a special chamber composed of 5 judges to deal with the "Case concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean (Chile/European Community)".
By agreement of the parties Ghana and Ivory Coast, the Tribunal formed a special chamber composed of 5 judges to deal with the "Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (Ghana/Côte d'Ivoire)".
By agreement of the parties Mauritius and Maldives, the Tribunal formed a special chamber of 7 permanent judges and 2 "ad hoc" judges to deal with the "Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius/Maldives)".
Holdouts.
Following a Reagan administration decision, the United States remained a holdout until at least 2012. Some concern was expressed in 2012 over the impact of enforcement actions based on ITLOS decisions related to greenhouse gas emissions.
Iran is a signatory, but not a party, to the UNCLOS. In the case of the Stena Impero, a lawyer opined that:
Current judges.
On 24 August 2020, the Chinese ambassador to Hungary, Duan Jielong, was elected a member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).