SEABED COUNCIL AGREES ON TWO SESSIONS IN 2000, ENDORSES $5.3 MILLION BUDGET
Press Release
SEA/1649
SEABED COUNCIL AGREES ON TWO SESSIONS IN 2000, ENDORSES $5.3 MILLION BUDGET
19990827Approves Most Rules for Legal and Technical Commission
(Received from the International Seabed Authority.)
KINGSTON, 26 August -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority completed its work for the year in Kingston this afternoon after agreeing to have two two-week sessions next year and recommending a budget for the Authority totaling $5,275,200. It also approved all but two rules of procedure of its Legal and Technical Commission, and decided to add one seat to the Commission's membership of 22.
The Council's decision on a meeting plan and budget was reached by consensus after a compromise had been worked out informally among regional groups. The Council specified that the aim of the two sets of meetings -- formally the Authority's sixth session, in two parts -- should be to complete work on the draft regulations for prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area, known as the mining code. This topic has been the Council's first priority since it began work on the code in March 1998.
The Council's recommendation on the budget will go before the Assembly tomorrow morning, at the closing meeting of the Authority's 1999 session. No dates have been set for next year's meetings.
In approving all but two rules for its Legal and Technical Commission, the Council was unable to agree on a wording to enable representatives of member States to participate in that expert body's meetings. However, it did agree to a proposal by the Latin American and Caribbean Group to increase the Commission's membership by one, to be nominated by that Group. The nomination is to be made and considered next year.
At the end of the meeting, Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan commented that the disillusion he had felt earlier at the slow pace in the Council had dissipated with today's agreements and the progress it had made on the mining code. He urged Council members to be careful not to try to undo work that had been done by the Legal and Technical Commission, which had prepared the draft code now being examined.
Budget for 2000
The figure of $5,275,200 recommended by the Council this afternoon for the Authority's 2000 budget (decision in ISBA/5/C/8) consists of $4,065,200 for administrative expenses and $1,210,000 for conference servicing. The latter figure would pay for a two-part session of the Authority next year, each part lasting two weeks, as agreed under the compromise reached in the Council.
The main component of the administrative budget is $2,064,300 for the salaries of 37 staff members, one more than had been authorized for 1999. Recruitment for three posts is frozen in 1999, so the actual increase in staff on board would be four. The additional post is for a computer software specialist. The budget for 1999, approved last August, totals $5,011,700.
Regarding next year's meetings, the Council recommended that the Assembly decide to accord priority next year to the Council's work on the draft mining code. Specifically, it recommended that the agenda for the first part of the session be devoted to the code. To advance the work, the Secretary-General would consult with the incoming Council President and with regional and interest groups with a view to identifying the main areas of difficulty and the most efficient work method that would enable outstanding issues to be resolved. The agenda for the second part of the session would include elections to the organs and offices of the Authority, the work of the Finance Committee, and the conclusion and adoption of the mining code.
To enable the Authority to meet twice next year, the Assembly was asked to authorize the Secretary-General to transfer funds between the administrative and conference-servicing parts of the budget and to shift funds within sections of the administrative part, in amounts up to 30 per cent of each section.
On other financial matters, the Council recommended that the Secretary-General be authorized to establish a scale of assessments for members' contributions to the 2000 budget, based on the United Nations scale for 1999. The Council asked the Assembly to appeal to its members, as well as to States that were provisional members until that status terminated last November, to pay their arrears as soon as possible. A final recommendation was that the firm of KPMG Peat Marwick be appointed to audit the Authority's accounts for 1999.
The budget originally proposed by the Secretary-General in June (ISBA/5/A/2 -- ISBA/5/C/2) totalled $5,679,400. After the Finance Committee recommended reductions earlier this week (report in ISBA/5/A/8 -- ISBA/5/C/7), the Secretary-General lowered his figure, first to $5,439,200 and today to $5,275,200.
Rules of Legal and Technical Commission
The rules of procedure of the Legal and Technical Commission (ISBA/5/C/L.1/Rev.1), all but two of which the Council approved this afternoon, will govern the manner in which that body conducts its work. The main functions of the Commission are to review applications for plans of work for exploration in the international seabed area and to advise the Council on such applications, as well as to make recommendations on protection of the marine environment and monitor compliance with the Authority's seabed regulations. Members of the Commission are elected by the Council for a five-year term; they serve as experts in their personal capacity rather than as representatives of States.
The rules allow the Commission to meet as often as required, though so far it has convened only during regular sessions of the Authority.
Commission members are to have no financial interest in any seabed exploration or exploitation activity and will be required to make a written declaration to that effect. They are enjoined not to disclose confidential information they receive by reason of their duties, and the Commission is to recommend to the Council procedures for handling such information. The Council may take action against a member who violates these conflict-of-interest or confidentiality rules.
As a general rule the Commission is to take decisions by consensus, but if this cannot be achieved it acts by majority vote. Other rules cover the Commission's officers, secretariat services, languages and conduct of business.
The two rules on which no consensus could be reached concern meetings of the Commission (rule 6) and participation by States members of the Authority and entities active in the international seabed area (rule 53). According to the text being discussed by the Council, the Commission would meet in private unless it decided otherwise, taking into account the desirability of holding open meetings on issues of general interest to member States of the Authority that did not involve confidential information. With the Commission's permission, any member State of the Authority might send a representative to attend meetings and express views on any matter particularly affecting that State.
The text approved today with the exception of these two rules was the result of the Council's discussion, between 17 and 20 August, of a draft submitted by the Commission last year. The Council began discussing this revision yesterday, with the debate centred on rule 53. Chile, which had proposed changes to this rule yesterday, announced today that it would be prepared to accept rule 53 with the addition of a fourth paragraph suggested by the Secretary-General and a sentence added at the end by the Russian Federation. The combined paragraph reads:
"Any member of the Authority may make a request to the Council to convene a meeting of the Commission in order to consider a matter of particular concern to that member involving an environmental emergency. The Council shall convene the Commission and request it to give urgent consideration to such matter and report to the Council as soon as possible with its findings and recommendations. The member concerned has the right to send a representative to such a consideration to express its view on the matter without participation in decision-making."
The Russian Federation explained the added sentence as a compromise limiting the right of States to participate in meetings of the Commission only in cases of emergency, with such meetings being held on the recommendation of the Council.
The United States observer repeated her call that rule 53 be harmonized with rule 39 of the Council's rules of procedure, which states: "As a general rule, meetings of subsidiary organs shall be held in private." Supported by the United Kingdom, she said the new proposal had budgetary implications, on which delegations would have to consult their Governments before taking a decision.
Brazil said the new proposal met most concerns and required only minor changes. It proposed replacing the word "consideration" in the last sentence to "meeting", and revising the end of the first sentence to read: "involving concrete situations, especially those of an environmental nature".
After arguments for and against the new proposal, Chile concluded that conditions did not exist for consensus on rule 53, and Council President Charles Manyang D'Awol (Sudan) ruled that the issue be left to the next session.
A new text for rule 19, based on a proposal by Mexico and the United Kingdom, was accepted. It requires the Chairman of the Commission, or anyone designated by him, to attend meetings of the Council and respond to questions when matters relating to the work of the Commission are under consideration. The Secretary-General asked the Council to consider the cost implications of having such a person attend meetings when required. As the Council concluded its consideration of the draft rules, the Russian Federation said it would be unfortunate if the rules could not be adopted because rule 53 was pending. He suggested that all the rules on which agreement had been reached should be adopted provisionally. The United States also wanted to exclude rule 6, concerning open or closed meetings, which it saw as closely linked to rule 53. The Council agreed that the remaining rules should be approved.
The Council adopted a proposal, put forward yesterday by the Latin American and Caribbean Group, that the number of members of the Legal and Technical Commission be increased by one, to be nominated from that regional group. The decision was taken with the proviso that the term of office of the new member will run concurrently with that of current members, who were elected in 1996 for five years.
The United Kingdom wanted to allow for the possibility of a Latin American or Caribbean candidate filling a place on the Commission upon resignation of a member, thus eliminating the need for a twenty-third member. However, this position won no support, as other delegations, including Egypt, Fiji, Jamaica, Nigeria and the Sudan, thought such an arrangement would create a problem of geographical balance.
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