Publications and Library

Compilation of a very large, dedicated source of international cable legislation, and index of reported cases and rulings involving submarine cables, the only such collection worldwide.

Compilation of a very large source of environmental information related to the installation maintenance and protection of submarine cables.

A peer-reviewed book, jointly compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the ICPC entitled Submarine Cables and the Oceans: Connecting the World.

The ICPC has been the catalyst for independent research into the interactions of cables and the marine environment that has led to 2 peer-reviewed papers in the science literature with three others in various stages of preparation.

ICPC Recommendations on submarine cable industry best practice have been requested an average of 103 times per year over the past 5 years.

The English language version of the ICPC booklet, Fishing and Submarine Cables Working Together was downloaded from the website over 12,700 times in the current year and the Spanish language version was downloaded over 3,000 times.

The ICPC’s educational presentation About Submarine Telecommunications Cables has been downloaded over 50,000 times per year since being placed in the public area of the website and was downloaded over 74,000 times in the current year.

The ICPC’s educational presentation About Submarine Power Cables was made available for download from 2011 along with an updated version of About Submarine Telecommunications Cables

A 6 part ICPC movie, based on the UNEP/ICPC book, has been produced and is available via the Publications Page of this website..

The ICPC published a Loss Prevention Bulletin to all of the world’s P&I clubs, raising awareness of the risks to cables from accidental anchor deployment.

The Environment Update newsletter is published monthly and distributed to all ICPC Members (114 issues over the past 9 years).

Quarterly Newsletters are published to Members, providing an update on ICPC activities.

Submission of articles to a number of publications in 2011:

• Public Service Review magazine: European Union: Issue 22 – “Opting for Optics” by Dean Veverka, Chairman ICPC

• Shipping and Marine Magazine (UK) – “Under the Sea” by Dean Veverka, Chairman ICPC

• Proceedings [US Naval Institute] – “Cable Vision” by Captain Douglas R. Burnett U.S. Navy retired, ICPC International Cable Legal Advisor

• Deep sea Observatories and International Law by Douglas R. Burnett (ICPC International Cable Legal Advisor) and Lionel Carter (ICPC Marine Environmental Advisor) IEEE publication.

• Lineman for the Oceans by Lionel Carter (ICPC Marine Environmental Advisor) in Victorious alumnus magazine (distribution 58,000).

Links with Other Organisations

ICPC is viewed as a key submarine cable industry organisation for inclusion in any forum discussing the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

ICPC is viewed by many government organisations as a focus for communication with the submarine cable industry.

ICPC has entered into a 3-year MOU with the Rhodes Academy to sponsor an annual writing competition on the subject of international law and submarine cables. Winning entries were received from Singapore (2009) and Indonesia (2010) and are expected to be published in leading law journals this year.

ICPC has cooperative relationships with the UK Cable Protection Committee (UKCPC), North American Submarine Cable Association (NASCA) and the Denmark Cable Protection Committee (DKCPC) and cooperates with SubOptic to provide reciprocal publicity for events.

Strong operational links have been established with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Southampton, UK via:

• Support for writing-up of research into potential pollution impacts of submarine cables used for the construction of artificial reefs

• Non-financial support for Dr Peter Talling that contributed to his award of a Royal Society Industry Fellowship to evaluate the dynamics of submarine mudflows of the type that disrupted cables off southern Taiwan

• Financial support for Rachel Gavey to complete her PhD thesis under joint supervision of NOC and Lionel Carter (MEA) on natural hazards around Taiwan and their impact on cables. The thesis was completed and successfully defended in January 2012 and now Dr Gavey is planning the science to paper on the cable/hazard problem.

ICPC has established working relationships with:

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

• International Seabed Authority (ISA)

• Center for International LAW (CIL) (Singapore), Center for Oceans Law and Policy (COLP) (USA), and China Institute of Marine Affairs (CIMA) (PRC)

• International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE)

• International Telecommunications Union, Telecommunications Standardization Bureau

Presentations to Conferences    

• APEC-TEL Cable Protection Workshop in Singapore and San Francisco (2011), at the invitation of the Australian Government.

• Oceans Conference on Legal Challenges in Maritime Security, Heidelberg.

• Strategic Planning workshop on Global Oceans Issues in Marine Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, Nice.

• Rhodes Academy, created the lesson on subject of submarine cables and UNCLOS, beginning in 2006 and offered every year since then as part of the standard course at the Rhodes Academy.

• China Regional Workshop on Submarine Cables, Beijing. Co-sponsor with the Chinese Institute for Maritime Affairs (CIMA) and the Center for Oceans Law and Policy (COLP).

• ROGUCCI/EWI Summits, Dubai, Dallas, London (2011), and New York – ICPC has implemented some of their recommendations.

• Centre for International Law, Singapore (CIL). Co-sponsored workshop on submarine cables, with CIL, National University of Singapore, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, CIMA-Special Ocean Administration, and the Netherland Institute of International Law.

• SubOptic 2010, Yokohama

• ITU-UNESCO-WMO Workshop on Submarine Cables for Ocean/Climate Monitoring and Disaster Warning: Science, Engineering, Business and Law, Rome, 2011

• Submarine Networks World, Singapore, 2011

• European Forum for Member States (EFMS), 2011

In April 2011, the ICPC and Center for International Law (CIL) jointly sponsored a submarine cable workshop that brought together representatives from 23 national governments, the ISA, the UN and ICPC Members. The workshop program was designed to educate governments on cable issues and improve protection of the submarine cable infrastructure.

Influence on Legislation

ICPC representation influenced the development of The Eastern Scotian Shelf Integrated Management (ESSIM) so that the rights of cables under UNCLOS were successfully recognized and coastal State encroachment risk reduced.

As a direct result of efforts by the ICPC and its Members with their national governments, the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage respects the rights of submarine cables as set out in UNCLOS and excludes international submarine cables from the Convention’s requirements on underwater cultural heritage.

The ICPC has provided comments on national legislation impacting submarine cables in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malta and Indonesia.