The work of the international seabed authority

• Author: Michael W Lodge
• Position: Legal Adviser, International Seabed Authority
• Pages: 102-126

THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL

SEABED AUTHORITY

MICHAEL W LODGE*

INTRODUCTION

It is a great pleasure to be in Barbados to talk about the work of the

International Seabed Authority. I believe the Authority is the only global

organization headquartered in the Caribbean region and so it is especially

gratifying for me to have this opportunity to meet with other practitioners in

international law from the region to talk about our work

In my presentation today I shall give a brief outline of the functions and

structure of the Authority I shall then describe some of the major achievements

of the Authority since its establishment in 1994 and 1 shall conclude by

suggesting some of the challenges that may lie ahead for the organization.

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE AUTHORITY

The International Seabed Authority headquartered in Kingston,

Jamaica,

is

one of three international bodies created by the 1982 United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea:1 the others being the Commission for the

Limits of the Continental

Shelf,2

which operates from UN Headquarters in

New York, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS),

based in Hamburg, Germany.

* Legal Adviser, International Seabed Authority; Head of the Interim Secretariat for the Preparatory

Conference for the Wesrern and Genual Pacific Fisheries Convention, Barrister-ar-Law (Gray's

Inn). This is an edited version of a paper delivered by the author at the 2003 Caribbean Regional

Conference of the Intranational Law Association held 26-29 March, 2003 in Barbados.

1 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. 1982 (LOSC; A/Conf 62/122 and Corr 1-11,

ILM21 (1982) 1261. The Law of the Sea: Compendium of Basic Documents (Internatiooal

Seabed Authority/The Caribbean Law Publishing Company, 200l).

2 LOSC, Article 76 (8) and Annex 11.

The Convention was adopted in 1982 after 12 years of negotiation. It

entered into force in 1994. It

is

a wide-ranging and comprehensive treaty that

defines the rights and responsibilities of States in all parts of the worlds seas

and oceans, from shorelines to ocean depths, and covers all major maritime

activities from fishing and shipping to resource exploitation and environmental

protection.

Part XI of the Convention, together with the related implementation

agreement of 1994,3 sets out the regime for the international seabed area -

that is, the area of the seabed that lies beyond the limits of any nations

jurisdiction (referred to in the Convention as the 'Area").4 Under the

Convention, the Area and its mineral resources are designated "the common

heritage of mankind.5

The basic function of the Authority

is

to manage these resources and to

utilize the wealth generated from their exploitation in such a way as to give

3 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XXI of the United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982. A/RES/48/263, Annex. Also reproduced in The Law of the

Sea: Compendium of Baric Documents (International Seabed Authority/ The Caribbean Law Publishing

Company, 2001). p 206. The Agreement was adopted by the General Assembly on 28 July 1994

following 15 rounds of informal consultations between 1990 and 1994, convened by the Secretary-

General of the United Nations in order to resolve the outstanding issues with respect of Part XI and

achieve universal participation In the Convention. The Agreement, by its terms, forms an integral

part of the 1982 Convention. It removes some of the most troublesome elements of the regime such

as the requirements for the compulsory transfer of technology and the subsidization of the activities

of the Enterprise. It takes a functional approach towards the establishment of the institutions under

Tart XI; it provides for a stable environment for investors in deep-seabed minerals under a market-

oriented regimen; it guarantees access to the resources of the seabed to all qualified investors; it

provides for the establishment of a system of taxation which is fair to the seabed miner and from

which the international community as a whole may benefit: and it makes provision for assistance

from the proceeds of mining to developing land-based producers of minerals whose economies may

be affected as a consequence of deep seabed mining. Among numerous published articles on the

Secretary-General's consultations and the Part XI Agreement see: David H Anderson, Efforts to

Ensure Universal Participation in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.', International

and Comparative Law Quarterly 42(3) July 1993, 654-664; Further Efforts to Ensure Universal

Participation in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea', International and Comparative

Law Quarterly 43(4) October 1994, 886-893; Edward D Brown. The 1994 Agreement on the

Implementation of Part XI of the UN Convention on the Agreement for the Unitersalization of the

Law of the Sea ; Breakthrough to Universality?' Marine Policy 19(1) January 1995, 5-20; Morita

Hayashi, 'The 1994 Agreement for the Universalization of the Law of the Sea Convention', Ocean

Development and International Law 27 (1-2) 1966, 31-39; Joachim Koch, 'Revisions in Part XI:

A Necessary Compromise' in Myron H Nordquist and John N. Moore (eds), 1994 Rhodes

Papers: Entry into Force of the Law of the Sea Convention (The Hague and Boston; Martinus

Nijhoff Publishers, 1995), 151-154; Shabtai Rosenne, The United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea, 1982: The Application of Part XI: an Element of Background', 29 Israel Law Review

491-505 (1995); LDM Nelson, 'Some Observations On the Agreement Implementing Part X[ of

the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea' in Thomas A Nebsag (ed),

Proceedings

of the Twenty-

eighth Annual Conference of the Law of the Sea Inttitute, Honolulu, Hawaii, 11-14 July;1934 Ocean

Governance; Strategies and Approaches for the 21st Century (Honolulu, Hawaii; Law of the Sea

Institute, University of Hawaii, 1996). 203-218.

4 LOSC, Article 1(l).

5 LOSC, Article 136.