COUNCIL OF SEABED AUTHORITY HEARS FURTHER VIEWS ON MINING CODE
Press Release
SEA/1597
COUNCIL OF SEABED AUTHORITY HEARS FURTHER VIEWS ON MINING CODE
19980825(Delayed in transmission; reissued as received.)
KINGSTON, 21 August (International Seabed Authority) -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority this morning continued to make progress in its paragraph-by-paragraph review of the draft mining code on prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the seabed beyond national jurisdiction.
The Council has now completed informal deliberations on 17 of the 33 regulations proposed by the Legal and Technical Commission. At the morning meeting, suggestions and comments were heard relating to the content of applications to the Authority for approval of work plans.
With regard to regulation 12, dealing with undertakings required of applicants, some delegations were not satisfied with the scope of subparagraph (a), which states in part that applicants will undertake to comply with rules, regulations and procedures of the Authority "as at the date the application is submitted". In their view, a situation of impunity for contractors might be created if the contractors were to be bound only by the provisions of the Convention and the rules, regulations and procedures in force as at the date on which the application is submitted.
Summarizing the discussion on this point, Council President Joachim Koch (Germany) noted that while the contractors required some guarantee of certainty, it would not be justifiable to exempt them from abiding by new rules on the protection of the environment which may become applicable. He said the contractor would have to be given the assurance that the provisions of the contract would remain in force, but that the provisions with regard to environmental protection could be changed according to new rules and regulations.
The consideration of regulation 14, related to data and information to be submitted before the designation of a reserved area, gave rise to a debate on what kind of data should be submitted. Some delegations felt that the regulation should specify the content of the data. One member suggested that Article 8 in Annex 3 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provided the necessary wording which should be added to the regulation.
- 2 - Press Release SEA/1597 25 August 1998
There was much debate on regulation 15, dealing with "data and information to be submitted for approval of the plan of work". One delegation wanted the introductory paragraph revised to specify clearly that information provided by applicants should conform to the guidelines of the Legal and Technical Commission. The issue of compliance by contractors with international standards was also highlighted. Some delegates felt that contractors should not be limited to the rules, regulations and procedures of the Authority and that the mining code should also take into account existing international standards relevant to the marine environment, such as those contained in the Barcelona Convention.
Regulation 16, "Fees for application" attracted debate on procedural matters, which will be dealt with later.
The issue of confidentiality was again raised when delegates discussed regulation 17, which covers "receipt, acknowledgement and safe custody of applications". Specifically, some delegates wanted clarification on guidelines to determine the difference between confidential information in an application and information of a "general nature" which would be circulated to the members of the Legal and Technical Commission. Delegates were advised by the Secretary-General, Satya Nandan, that regulation 17 conforms to the practice used to deal with applications in the past. "When we received an application, we extracted just enough information to let the members of the Commission know what the contractor was about."
* *** *