This study has presented the major findings of the first empirical analysis of seven decades of SC practice. It has outlined the normative background of the SC mandate and introduced an original, custom-built database on the use of international materials by the SC. The empirical data has been utilised as the basis for assessing certain profiles of SC practice against existent theoretical frameworks, which are often based on assumptions, with a view to complementing existent scholarly work on the SC powers from a different perspective.