List of parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. The Convention was opened for signature on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994 upon deposition of the 60th instrument of ratification.^[1]

The Convention has been ratified by 169 parties, which includes 168 states (165 United Nations member states plus the UN Observer state Palestine and non-member states the Cook Islands and Niue) and the European Union.^[2] An additional 14 UN member states have signed, but not ratified the Convention.

Subsequently, the "Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" was signed in 1994, effectively amending the original Convention. The Agreement has been ratified by 152 parties (all of which are parties to the Convention), which includes 151 states (148 United Nations member states plus the UN Observer state Palestine, as well as the Cook Islands and Niue) and the European Union.^[3] An additional three UN member states (Egypt, Sudan, USA) have signed, but not ratified the Agreement.

As per Article 4 of the Agreement, following adoption of the Agreement any state which ratifies the Convention also becomes a party to the Agreement. Additionally, only states which have previously established or establishes at the same time its consent to be bound by the Convention can become parties to the Agreement.