SEABED COUNCIL ENDS INITIAL READING OF MINING CODE ANNEXES

Press Release
SEA/1628

SEABED COUNCIL ENDS INITIAL READING OF MINING CODE ANNEXES

(Received from the International Seabed Authority.)

KINGSTON, 12 August -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority, at its informal consultations this afternoon in Kingston, completed the first reading of the annexes to regulations governing prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the seabed area beyond national jurisdiction.

The Council has been meeting informally this week on a draft Mining Code presented in March 1998 by its Legal and Technical Commission. It spent most of yesterday and all of today on the four annexes, which flesh out a number of provisions in the basic text, known as the Mining Code.

At its next informal meeting, at 10 a.m. tomorrow (13 August), the Council will revert to the preamble and regulation 1, containing definitions of terms. This will wrap up its first reading of the draft.

Training, reporting requirements of seabed contractors and confidentiality of information were the main topics this afternoon as the Council reviewed the last 22 sections of annex 4, which contains standard clauses for exploration contracts through which the Authority will authorize mining entities to explore for polymetallic nodules on the seabed. The first six sections were dealt with yesterday and this morning.

On the issue of training programmes to be conducted by contractors for personnel of the Authority and developing States, dealt with in section 7, some delegations called for these requirements to be outlined in more detail. Questions as to the number of programmes to be carried out, the scope of training, the funding of programmes and the number of trainees, they felt, should be clearly addressed in the contract.

It was pointed out that all the pioneer seabed investors had already fulfilled their obligation to implement training programmes, except for one whose programme would be completed by the end of this year. One delegation suggested that it would be useful to know where the trainees were and how their States had benefited, so as to help the trainers to improve future programmes.

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Section 9 deals with the content of annual reports to be submitted by a contractor, covering its activities in the exploration area. Some delegations found the reporting requirements to be excessive. They questioned the need to include details on equipment and to hand over samples of polymetallic nodules to the Authority for analysis, warning that burdensome reporting procedures might impede the progress of activities.

On the other hand, a number of delegations objected strongly to any changes that might dilute the effect of this clause. They recalled the Authority's mandate to protect the resources of the area, denominated the common heritage of mankind. They warned against any attempt to reduce the Authority to the status of an administrative body functioning only to process the applications of contractors.

Delegates who proposed the deletion of certain clauses of sections 10 and 11, dealing respectively with data and information to be submitted on expiration of the contract and with confidentiality, argued that the Authority should avoid being bombarded with unnecessary information.

Stressing the importance of confidentiality, one representative urged deletion of a clause stating that data should not be deemed proprietary if it was needed for the formulation of regulations on environmental protection. Other delegates called for the clause to be retained, and felt that any information relating to preservation of the marine environment must be made public.

Section 20, which covers suspension and termination of contract and penalties, attracted comments from some delegates who felt the clause went too far and expressed fears that contractors might suffer unnecessary damages from premature termination of the contract.

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