A/RES/74/19 Oceans and the law of the sea intentional and accidental damage from shipping and other activities and that the maintenance, including the repair, of these cables is important, noting that these matters have been brought to the attention of States at various workshops and seminars, and conscious of the need for States to adopt national laws and regulations to protect submarine cables and render their wilful damage or damage by culpable negligence punishable offences, Noting the importance of the delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles and that it is in the broader interest of the international community that coastal States with a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles submit information on the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (the Commission), and welcoming the submissions to the Commission by a considerable number of States Parties to the Convention on the outer limits of their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, that the Commission has continued to fulfil its role, including of making recommendations to coastal States, and that the summaries of recommendations are being made publicly available, 18 Noting also that some coastal States may continue to face particular challenges in relation to preparing and presenting submissions to the Commission, Noting further that financial and technical assistance may be sought by developing countries for activities in relation to preparing and presenting submissions to the Commission, including additional information with respect to submissions and revised or new submissions, including through the voluntary trust fund established by the General Assembly in its resolution 55/7 of 30 October 2000 19 for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of submissions to the Commission for developing States, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, and compliance with article 76 of the Convention, as well as other accessible international assistance, Reaffirming the importance of the work of the Commission for coastal States and for the international community, Recognizing that practical difficulties can arise when there is a considerable delay between the preparation of submissions and their consideration by the Commission, including in retaining expertise up to and during the consideration of the submissions by the Commission, Recognizing also the significant workload of the Commission in view of the large number of submissions already received and a number of submissions yet to be received, which places significant demands and challenges on its members and the secretariat as provided by the Secretary-General of the United Nations through the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs of the Secretariat (the Division), Noting with concern the projected timetable of the work of the Commission on the submissions already received by it and those yet to be received, and i n this regard noting the decisions of the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention to request the Commission to consider, in coordination with the secretariat, within the existing resources made available to the Secretariat, that the Commission, and its subcommissions meeting simultaneously as far as possible, meet at United Nations Headquarters for up to 26 weeks but not less than an intended minimum of 21 weeks __________________ 18 19 6/57 Available from the web page of the Commission maintained by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. The terms of reference, guidelines and rules of the trust fund were amended by the General Assembly in its resolutions 58/240, 70/235 and 73/124. 19-21313