This report results from a one-day law of the sea workshop jointly organised by the ICPC and CIL—with support from Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) Singapore and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)—following the ICPC’s annual Plenary meeting in Singapore in May 2024. The workshop brought together representatives from the submarine cable industry, academia, and more than 50 government delegates from ASEAN countries, to consider how these challenges can be addressed under existing international law (or its absence) through increased collaboration between the cable industry and governments. As with the workshop, the report is divided into four segments: (1) spatial and competing use issues in the oceans; (2) permits and policies for laying and repair of cables; (3) cable security; and (4) implications of the new agreement for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the so-called BBNJ treaty.
Among other recommendations, with respect to spatial separation and competing uses, the report recommends that governments:
- Improve coordination across agencies and departments to ensure proper treatment of and prioritisation of submarine cable installation and repair; and
- Establish single points of contact for submarine cable matters; and that they work with submarine cable operators to:
- Ensure coordination with other marine industries at the earliest stages of project development; and
- Enhance cable awareness programs.
- Develop and implement transparent and stable regulatory regimes with enumerated requirements and timeframes;
- Abide by their UNCLOS commitments and jurisdictional limitations therein; and
- Consider how their environmental policies and marine spatial planning can magnify risks to submarine cable resilience.
- Recognise shared responsibility for cable security;
- Share risk and threat information (in both directions); and
- Ensure that cables continue to appear on nautical charts, in order to mitigate the principal risks of damage from fishing and vessel anchors.
- It also recommended that governments ratify the 1884 Cable Protection Convention.
- Continue to engage directly on the implementation of the treaty and its treatment of submarine cables; and
- Work with treaty bodies make use of submarine cable expertise and the best available science.
ICPC Contact:
Kent Bressie, International Law Adviser, ICPC
+1 202 730 1337
kbressie@hwglaw.com