Rockall Bank dispute

Several states have claimed interests over the sea bed adjoining Rockall, an uninhabitable granite islet which is located within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United Kingdom.

The twenty-fourth session of the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) was held in New York from 10 August to 11 September 2009.

[4] On 7 November 1988 the United Kingdom and Ireland agreed a delineation which ignores Rockall's existence and have granted exploration rights.

This is the only example to date of a state voluntarily downgrading an insular feature to "a rock" and thus reducing the area of its claimed maritime zones.

[8][9][10] In 1997, the UK ratified[11] the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and thus relinquished any claim to an extension of its EEZ beyond the islet.

Ownership of these rights in the Rockall area are disputed between the United Kingdom, Denmark (for the Faroe Islands), Ireland and Iceland.

[12] A communiqué issued by the Prime Minister's Office on 7 May 1985 announced the designation of not only the seabed in the immediate vicinity of the Faroes but also a vast area of the Rockall plateau to the south west.

[12] Despite its long history of human habitation into the 20th century, Iceland considers St. Kilda to be "a minuscule, effectively uninhabited, islet, categorized under article 121(3) of the Law of the Sea Convention".

[17] As a result, a very extensive area under Irish jurisdiction, including part of the Rockall Trough and Plateau, is not disputed by the United Kingdom.

More recently, on 11 June 2003, the Irish Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources gave a Written Parliamentary Answer, stating: "Ireland claims an extended continental shelf ... up to more than 500 nautical miles (926 km), particularly in the Hatton–Rockall area".

[22] The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time, Dermot Ahern said There have certainly been protracted talks, but that is not unusual when one considers the complexity of the issue at hand and the competing interests.

Finding a deal is a significant challenge but the rewards are there for future generations from all four countries.The latest conference between all four parties occurred in Reykjavik in May 2011[23]