SEABED COUNCIL CONTINUES WORK ON RULES FOR LEGAL AND TECHNICAL COMMISSION
Press Release
SEA/1636
SEABED COUNCIL CONTINUES WORK ON RULES FOR LEGAL AND TECHNICAL COMMISSION
19990819(Received from the International Seabed Authority.)
KINGSTON, 18 August -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority, meeting in Kingston this afternoon, continued discussion of draft rules of procedure of its Legal and Technical Commission, taking up several contentious points relating to amendments proposed earlier.
At its third meeting on this topic since the discussion began yesterday afternoon, 17 August, the Council agreed on a revised version of rule 1 (frequency of sessions) and an addition to rule 12 (confidentiality). It continued to seek an agreed wording for rule 6 (private and public meetings) and rule 48 (participation by members of the Authority and entities carrying out activities in the international seabed area). It also took up redrafted amendments to rule 11 (financial interest of members). A new rule on working languages was proposed.
The Council will resume work on this topic at its next meeting, at 11 a.m. tomorrow, 19 August.
An amendment to rule 1 (frequency of sessions) was suggested by Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan in response to a call from Chile for a distinction between regular and special sessions of the Commission. The amendment was accepted by the Council and the rule now reads: "The Legal and Technical Commission ... shall meet as often as required, including in emergency sessions, for the efficient exercise of its functions, taking into account the requirement of cost-effectiveness."
Responding to a suggestion made yesterday by Fiji and others that the Authority should compensate the expert members for their attendance at special sessions, Mr. Nandan estimated the cost of a one-week session at $70,000 for travel and per diem of members.
Rules 6 and 48, which were discussed together, raised the issue of how the requirement for the Commission to meet in private could be reconciled with the possibility of allowing government representatives to attend meetings on matters particularly affecting their countries.
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In the discussion, which began this morning, most speakers supported retention of the original wording of rule 6, "The meetings of the Commission shall be held in private unless the Commission decides otherwise", with the addition of an amendment by New Zealand. This would add: "In deciding whether meetings should be open or closed, the Commission should bear in mind the desirability of holding open meetings whenever issues of general interest to members of the Authority, which do not involve the discussion of confidential information, are being discussed".
Council President Charles Manyang D'Awol (Sudan), though urged by Chile to rule in favour of the majority, said the matter was a delicate one and invited members to meet in the corridors to try and resolve it.
Resuming discussion on rule 11 (financial interest), Chile said its proposal yesterday was an attempt to disqualify anyone from serving on the Commission who had a conflict of financial interest regarding matters before that body. This afternoon, Chile and Mexico, in separate proposals, sought wording to extend the scope of the rule to any individual whose connection with an entity carrying out work in the seabed area could be incompatible with the impartiality required of a member of the Commission.
The Council accepted a proposed amendment to rule 12 on confidentiality, put forward by the United States, after some drafting changes. A second paragraph will now be added to that rule, to read: "The Legal and Technical Commission shall recommend, for the approval of the Council, procedures on the handling of confidential information coming to its members' knowledge by reason of their duties, to prevent its disclosure, which shall be based upon the relevant provisions of the Convention, the regulations and the analogous procedures established by the Secretary-General governing the handling of such information."
The Russian Federation proposed the inclusion of a new rule specifying that the Commission should have six working languages. The sponsor noted that this provision corresponded to one in the Council's own rules (which specify the languages as Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). Working languages are those in which a body's proceedings are interpreted during meetings and its documents are translated.
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