U.S. advice and consent resolution for UNCLOS stipulates US restrictions on applicability of third party

The U.S. Resolution of Advice and Consent does not formally contain reservations. The Convention generally prohibits reservations, 35 although Article 298 permits optional declarations by which states can exclude limited categories of disputes from the Convention's third-party dispute settlement provisions. Despite the general prohibition on reservations, several states have appended understandings or interpretive declarations when they have signed or ratified the Convention. Unlike reservations, understandings and interpretive declarations in theory do not "purport[] to exclude, limit, or modify [a] state's legal obligation." 36 Instead, interpretive declarations and understandings "specify or clarify the meaning or scope attributed by the declarant to a treaty or to certain of its provisions."37 The line between a permissible interpretive declaration and an impermissible reservation is not always easy to discern, for the name that a state attaches to a statement about a treaty is not dispositive. The U.S. Advice and Consent Resolution contains declarations that are authorized under the Convention and that may limit Convention provisions that otherwise would apply (notably under Article 298). The Resolution also contains interpretative declarations and understandings that legally cannot, under Article 310 of the Convention, "purport to exclude or to modify the legal effect of the provisions of th[e] Convention in their application to" the United States. The Advice and Consent Resolution helps us discern U.S. positions towards the Convention. Although this Resolution in theory could change in a future Congress, it is the product of an intensive interagency vetting within the U.S. government, and significant aspects of the Resolution reflect longstanding U.S. positions held by both Democratic and Republican administrations. The focus of this Part of this article is on the Advice and Consent Resolution's provisions that address the jurisdiction of international courts and tribunals operating under the Convention. These provisions suggest the United States will interpret the jurisdiction of third-party tribunals restrictively and will attempt to limit U.S. amenability to the jurisdiction of international tribunals as much as possible.