In progress at UNHQ

SEA/1655

SEA BED AUTHORITY TO FOCUS ON MINING CODE AT SIXTH SESSION, IN KINGSTON, 20 - 31 MARCH

20 March 2000


Press Release
SEA/1655


SEA BED AUTHORITY TO FOCUS ON MINING CODE AT SIXTH SESSION, IN KINGSTON, 20 - 31 MARCH

20000320 Background Release

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

KINGSTON, 17 March -- The International Seabed Authority will concentrate on remaining issues pertaining to the draft mining code for polymetallic nodules in the deep seabed, when it convenes in Kingston from 20 to 31 March during the first half of a two-part session, with the stated aim of completing the text during the year 2000.

The 36-member Council of the Authority, which has been refining the draft clause by clause since 1998, hopes to wrap up this work during the second part of the session, also at the Authority’s headquarters in Kingston, from 3 to 14 July. To facilitate this task, the 132-member Assembly of the Authority is expected to defer most of its work to the second part of the session.

The mining code will govern prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area beyond the jurisdiction of any State. These mineral- rich deposits lying deep beneath the ocean surface contain manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper. While many of the known deposits, in the central Pacific Ocean and parts of the Indian Ocean, hold economically valuable amounts of these metallic sources, they lie so deep that the cost of retrieving them is currently prohibitive compared to land-based production. Thus, national and private activities at this stage have been confined to locating deposits and understanding the conditions under which they occur, as well as on developing deep-sea mining technology.

The role of the Authority is to organize and control activities in the international seabed area, where national jurisdiction does not extend. It was given this task by the treaty that established it, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as refined by the 1994 Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI (seabed provisions) of that Convention.

The mining code will be the Authority’s first step in developing a body of international law governing all activities in the area, whether by States, corporations or international consortia. Under the Law of the Sea Convention, all exploration and development of deep-sea resources must be done by contract with the Authority. The code under discussion is limited to prospecting and exploration, taking account of the fact that actual exploitation is not expected for at least another decade.

But the Authority is also taking steps this year to look at the next area into which it is likely to extend the mining code, namely, mineral resources other than the polymetallic nodules that first attracted attention to the riches of the deep seas. From 26 to 30 June, the week before the second part of the 2000 session, the secretariat is convening a workshop in Kingston that will examine prospects for two such resources: hydrothermal polymetallic sulphides, rich in zinc, copper, iron, silver and gold, precipitated from intensely hot solutions that have welled up from volcanic sources deep below the earth’s crust; and cobalt-rich crusts, also containing manganese, nickel and platinum, precipitated from sea water and attached to rocky seabed elevations.

Another bit of unfinished business before the Council is to reach agreement on two outstanding rules of procedure for the Legal and Technical Commission, the body of 22 experts that advises the Council and that spent much of 1997 and 1998 drafting the mining code. These remaining rules concern conditions under which States may take part in meetings of that body. All other rules were adopted by the Council last August and are in effect provisionally pending completion of the text. The Commission is not scheduled to meet until July.

Also on this year’s agenda is the election of a Secretary-General of the Authority. The four-year term of the Authority’s first Secretary-General, Satya N. Nandan, expires this year. The Assembly is also due to approve the Authority’s financial regulations, governing the authorization and expenditure of its funds.

In July, the Assembly is to approve the Authority’s budget for 2001 and the scale of members’ budgetary assessments, and to elect half of the Council membership. In addition, it is to examine a supplementary agreement to the Headquarters Agreement between the Authority and the Government of Jamaica.

On the opening day, the Assembly and Council are to elect Presidents and Vice Presidents for the year and adopt their agendas for the session. The Presidents in 1999 were José Luis Vallarta-Marrón (Mexico) for the Assembly, and Charles Manyang D’Awol (Sudan) for the Council.

Mining Code

The purpose of the mining code, known formally as draft regulations on prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area, is to set out the conditions under which States and other entities will contract with the Authority to carry out activities in the area. The framework for this new international regime is set out in the Law of the Sea Convention, according to which the Authority is to regulate activities through a system of contracts, reporting and inspections. The Convention stresses, in particular, the need to protect the marine environment against any harmful effects of dredging and other work involved in mineral exploration. The aim of the code, in elaborating the Convention’s provisions, is to set out specific rights, duties and understandings that will legally bind the Authority and contractors.

The regulations spell out financial and technical requirements that contractors must meet for the Authority to offer guarantees of security of tenure and ensure confidentiality of proprietary information. Contractors would be required to establish training programmes for personnel of the Authority and developing countries. The Authority would inspect operations and have the right to impose penalties for certain violations. Contractors would be obliged to implement measures to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment.

Over the past two years the Council has completed one reading of the regulations and begun a second reading. As it stood at the end of last August, the text (ISBA/5/C/4/Rev.1) consisted of 40 regulations organized into nine parts and four annexes. The Council introduced many changes into the Commission’s original text, especially with a view to ensuring protection and preservation of the marine environment. For example, it now requires the Authority’s Secretary-General to take certain actions when serious environmental harm is threatened.

Unresolved issues are summarized in a secretariat paper prepared for the upcoming session (ISBA/6/INF.1). Most of them relate to two aspects: environmental protection; and the handling of confidential data supplied by contractors.

One thorny issue relating to the environment concerns the application of the “precautionary principle”. This is defined in the draft to mean that “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage to the marine environment, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”. Some delegations considered, however, that the uncertainty surrounding seabed exploration made it difficult, if not impossible, to apply such measures. The need for further environmental studies was stressed in order to identify possible harmful effects.

Another issue concerns liability for environmental damage. Should it be limited to six months after exploration was completed, or would that restrict the application of general provisions regarding responsibility and liability? Should the contractor be obliged to notify the Authority before removing exploration equipment and installations so that the area can be inspected, or are existing international rules adequate, especially since nodule exploration does not entail permanent installations?

The sensitive issue of how to handle confidential data obtained by contractors must also be resolved. Potential mining States want to ensure the secrecy of information that can be of commercial value to competitors. At the same time, the Authority must have access to certain data on the location and content of mineral resources and the type of technology used, in order to control activities.

There are at least three aspects to the confidentiality issue: Who decides what is confidential? How are confidential data to be handled? And how long should confidentiality be maintained?

The Convention obliges contractors to transmit to the Authority the data it needs to exercise its controlling powers, but it adds that such data shall not be deemed proprietary (and, therefore, confidential) if the Authority needs such information to formulate environmental and safety rules. However, the Convention does not define what data are proprietary. The draft code attempts to define confidential information as that which has “commercial value”, while excluding data that are generally known or publicly available. The code also leaves it up to the contractors to determine what is confidential, but some delegations argue that contractors should be required to justify their requests for confidentiality or that some procedure should be established to decide the matter.

The Convention prohibits the Authority from disclosing proprietary data transferred to it by prospectors, applicants for contracts or contractors. The draft code describes measures the Authority must take to ensure confidentiality. Similar rules apply to members of the Legal and Technical Commission, who will have to review confidential data in the course of their duties. Some delegations want to see more specific rules applied to the Authority’s staff, a matter to be dealt with in the future Staff Regulations. Finally, the draft code sets 10 years as the period during which data are to be kept confidential following expiration of a contract for exploration. Some delegations believe that confidentiality should remain indefinitely, while others feel that that status should apply only while an exploration contract is in force, unless it is followed by a contract for exploitation.

The Council has been examining the draft code in informal meetings, during which no formal records are kept of the positions of individual delegations. The discussions are also open to representatives of Authority members who are not on the Council, as well as to observers from non-member States.

(Documents and other material pertaining to the upcoming session are available on the Authority’s Web site, www.isa.org.jm.)

Members of Authority

The Authority currently has 132 members, up from 131 at the end of its 1999 session. The newest party to the Convention is Vanuatu. The membership now consists of the following:

Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, European Community, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar.

Also Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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For information media. Not an official record.