INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY TO MEET IN KINGSTON, 5 TO 16 AUGUST
Press Release
SEA/1518
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY TO MEET IN KINGSTON, 5 TO 16 AUGUST
19960802 Background Release The second part of the second session of the International Seabed Authority, to be held in Kingston from 5 to 16 August, will be devoted to a range of organizational questions, including the election of members of the Finance Committee and the Legal and Technical Commission, as well as the presiding officers of the Assembly and the Council. The Authority's 1997 budget will also be considered.During the first part of its session, held in March, the Authority elected Satya Nandan (Fiji) as its Secretary-General and constituted its 36-member Council.
At the forthcoming session, election of members of the Finance Committee will be a priority task since, among other reasons, the 1997 proposed budget must be considered by that Committee before the Council can make recommendations to the Assembly on the matter. The Assembly will elect a new president. Since its retiring President, Hasjim Djalal (Indonesia), is from the Asian Group of States, the next president must be from a different regional group.
In addition, the Assembly will be called upon to consider certain administrative matters in order to facilitate the establishment of the Authority and prepare for the conclusion of the headquarters agreement.
The Council, which will meet parallel to the Assembly, must also elect its president; adopt its rules of procedure; review the budget proposed by the Finance Committee before making its recommendations to the Assembly; oversee the conclusion of the headquarters agreement; and elect members of the Legal and Technical Commission to allow that body to assume its functions at the spring 1997 session.
Once the members of the Finance Committee have been elected, they will meet, as mentioned above, to review the proposed budget and make recommendations to the Council. The Finance Committee will also elect its Chairman.
International Seabed Authority; Convention on Law of Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea envisages the International Seabed Authority as the organization that would administer the utilization of the resources of the deep seabed, resources that have been declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations as "the common heritage of mankind". The main organs of the Authority will be its Assembly -- described by the Convention as "the supreme organ" of the Authority -- which will consist of all members of the Authority; and a Council, which will consist of 36 members elected according to a formula set out in the Convention and the Agreement.
The Convention was adopted by the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea in April 1982 and was opened for signature on 10 December 1982. The document represents an ambitious attempt by the international community to deal with all matters relating to the uses of the oceans, including national sovereignty, exploitation of living and non-living resources, navigation and dispute settlement. Though widely viewed as setting out the globally accepted legal régime in most matters relating to sovereignty and jurisdiction over, and use of, ocean space and its resources, the Convention failed to attain universal support because of difficulties some States had with its deep seabed mining provisions. While objections to those provisions were voiced mainly by industrialized countries, the uncertainty also slowed the pace of ratifications and accession by the developing States.
The initiative taken by the Secretary-General in 1990 to convene the informal consultations was due in part to the growing number of ratifications, which were nearing the 60 required for the entry into force of the Convention, and the fear that it would enter into force weakened and handicapped by the lack of support by the industrialized countries, which are the leading maritime Powers and major financial contributors. The initiative was also motivated by the great political and economic changes, in particular, the growing reliance on market principles, which have taken place in international relations since the adoption of the Convention.
The Agreement was eventually opened for signature on 29 July 1994, and 41 States, including the United States and most of the industrialized West, as well as one organization, the European Union, signed the Agreement on the first day. Among the major areas of difficulty addressed in the Agreement are the high costs for States parties, decision-making procedures of the Assembly and the Council, mandatory transfer of technology, stringent production policies, financial terms of mining contracts, and the Enterprise -- the operating arm of the Authority.
The Agreement consists of 10 articles dealing mainly with procedural aspects, such as signature, entry into force and provisional application. Article 2 of the Agreement deals with the relationship between the Agreement
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and Part XI of the Convention, providing that the two shall be interpreted and applied together as a single instrument. In the event of any inconsistency between the two, however, the provisions of the Agreement shall prevail.
The Agreement contains a system of provisional application, whereby it will be applied from 16 November 1994 until its entry into force. During that period, it shall be applied provisionally by:
-- States which have consented to its adoption in the General Assembly, except any such State which, before 16 November 1994, notifies the depositary in writing either that it will not so apply this Agreement or that it will consent to such application only upon subsequent signature or notification in writing;
-- States and entities which sign the Agreement, except any such State or entity which notifies the depositary in writing at the time of signature that will not so apply the Agreement;
-- States and entities which consent to its provisional application by so notifying the depositary in writing; and
-- States which accede to this Agreement.
The provisional application of the Agreement would thus enable States that have not ratified, acceded or succeeded to the Convention on the Law of the Sea to participate in the proceedings of the International Seabed Authority.
Assembly
As one of the Authority's two principal organs, the Assembly is composed of States parties to the Convention, as well as States which have accepted the Agreement.
Council The Council is the Authority's other principal organ. It comprises 36 members elected by the Assembly. According to the Convention, the 36 seats on the Council are to be distributed in accordance with the following formula: four members from among those States identified as among either the largest consumers or largest importers of minerals (known as Group A); four members from among the eight States with the largest investment in activities related to deep seabed mining (known as Group B); four members from among the States which are the major net exporters of the minerals to be derived from the deep seabed (known as Group C); six members from developing States, representing various special interests (known as Group D); and 18 members elected according to the principle of ensuring equitable geographical distribution of seats in the Council (known as Group E).
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According to the formula agreed to by the Assembly, the following States will represent their respective interest groups on the Council in the first year: Group A -- Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States; Group B -- China, France, Germany and India; Group C -- Australia, Chile, Indonesia and Zambia; Group D -- Cameroon, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Oman, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago; and Group E -- Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, Philippines, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Argentina, Paraguay, Cuba, Italy, Austria, Netherlands, Ukraine and Poland.
Normally, each member of the Council serves for a four-year term, but half of the members of the Council were to be elected to a two-year term for the first election in order to ensure rotation in future elections. Further, some of the members elected at the current session will serve for only one year and relinquish their seat to other States from their own group thereafter.
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