After seven years of work, the Committee on Coastal State Jurisdiction Relating to Marine Pollution of the International Law Association concluded its work by submitting its final report for discussion at the occasion of the London conference, July 25-29, 2000. This book brings together the different official reports submitted by this Committee at the 1996 Helsinki, 1998 Taipei, and 2000 London conferences, as well as some preparatory documents necessary for the correct understanding of these just-mentioned reports.
The Committee concentrated its work on vessel-source pollution and made it a central objective of its work to produce results which could facilitate the interpretation of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. During its work, it became moreover apparent that an accurate assessment of state practice proved more than once problematic either because of problems relating to interpretation or simply because the basic information was missing. For that reason, the present book contains a special section where different members of the Committee prepared detailed national reports, written according to a strict outline worked out for this purpose, in order to shed additional light on the specific issues dealt with by the Committee. Together with the conclusions arrived at by the Committee these additional national reports represent a valuable statement of the present-day status iuris questionis.