Preparatory Commission finishes its work; 'through rough waters to a safe port', says chairman.

Although the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea had "gone through rough waters", it had "arrived at a safe port", Commission Chairman Jose Luis Jesus of Cape Verde said, as the body concluded its last session on 12 August, ending 12 years of work.

In its final report, the Commission recommended approval of a $2.5-million expenditure to establish and operate the International Seabed Authority, starting on 16 November 1994, for an initial 13-month period. The Authority is to be headed by a Secretary-General who would start work on 1 June 1995.

At the session (1-12 August, New York), the Commission decided that practical arrangements for establishing the Tribunal would be considered in an ad hoc meeting--to be held later in 1994-of States parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. it also approved the registration of the Republic of Korea as a pioneer investor and waived the $1 million annual fee provided for in the Convention for pioneer investors.

Set up in 1982 by the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, the Preparatory Commission was mandated to make all the arrangements for the establishment and operation of the International Seabed Authority and the Tribunal. it was to cease its functions following the conclusion of the first Assembly session of the Authority, which was to meet upon the entry into force of the Convention. Having achieved the 60 required ratifications or accessions-64 by the e of July--it entered into force on November 1994.

On 28 July, the UN General Assembly adopted the Agreement on the implementation of the deep seabed mining provisions of the 1982 Convention, intended to pave the way for universal participation in the treaty by removing some of the obstacles dealing mainly with the Convention's seabed mining provisions which had stood in the way of ratification or accession by many countries, particularly the industrialized States.

The Assembly acted by adopting resolution 48/263 by a vote of 121 to none, with 7 abstentions.

Final report

The Commission's report to the Authority contained recommendations from its four Special Commissions dealing with: problems of land-based producer States that would be adversely affected by seabed mining of minerals; the Enterprise--the seabed mining arm of the Authority; the seabed mining code; and the International Tribunal.

The Assembly of the Authority was to meet for a three-day ceremonial meeting (16-18 November), a three-week substantive organizational meeting (27 February-17 March 1995), and a two-week resumed substantive meeting (7-18 August 1995), all to be held in Kingston, Jamaica, the seat of the Authority.

Chairman Luis Jesus said that the General Committee had discussed the question of relinquishment of pioneer areas, and noted the notification of relinquishment by the registered pioneer investors--India and the interoceanmetal Joint Organization (IOM).

Due to the recent sinking of its research vessel, China had postponed complying with such arrangements, but indicated that it intended to relinquish 30 per cent of its allocated area.

Under the Convention, pioneer investors are to relinquish portions of the area where they are conducting pioneer activities, in accordance with an eight-year schedule, which would then revert to the International Seabed Authority.

The General Committee also noted the report on the IOM fulfilling its obligations and the final report of the Training Panel, which administered the training programme to be provided by pioneer investors prior to the Convention's entry into force.