1. A Conference of the Parties is hereby established.

2. The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations no later than one year after the entry into force of this Agreement. Thereafter, ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties shall be held at regular intervals to be determined by the Conference of the Parties. Extraordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties may be held at other times, in accordance with the rules of procedure.

3. The Conference of the Parties shall ordinarily meet at the seat of the secretariat or at United Nations Headquarters.

4. The Conference of the Parties shall by consensus adopt, at its first meeting, rules of procedure for itself and its subsidiary bodies, financial rules governing its funding and the funding of the secretariat and any subsidiary bodies and, thereafter, rules of procedure and financial rules for any further subsidiary body that it may establish. Until such time as the rules of procedure have been adopted, the rules of procedure of the intergovernmental conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction shall apply.

5. The Conference of the Parties shall make every effort to adopt decisions and recommendations by consensus. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, if all efforts to reach consensus have been exhausted, decisions and recommendations of the Conference of the Parties on questions of substance shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the Parties present and voting, and decisions on questions of procedure shall be adopted by a majority of the Parties present and voting.

6. The Conference of the Parties shall keep under review and evaluation the implementation of this Agreement and, for this purpose, shall:

7. The Conference of the Parties may decide to request the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to give an advisory opinion on a legal question on the conformity with this Agreement of a proposal before the Conference of the Parties on any matter within its competence. A request for an advisory opinion shall not be sought on a matter within the competences of other global, regional, subregional or sectoral bodies, or on a matter that necessarily involves the concurrent consideration of any dispute concerning sovereignty or other rights over continental or insular land territory or a claim thereto, or the legal status of an area as within national jurisdiction. The request shall indicate the scope of the legal question on which the advisory opinion is sought. The Conference of the Parties may request that such opinion be given as a matter of urgency.

8. The Conference of the Parties shall, within five years of the entry into force of this Agreement and thereafter at intervals to be determined by it, assess and review the adequacy and effectiveness of the provisions of this Agreement and, if necessary, propose means of strengthening the implementation of those provisions in order to better address the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.