Sea law body approves consortium as pioneer investor.

The Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, at its resumed ninth session (12-30 August, New York), approved the application for registration as a pioneer of Interoceanmetal Joint Organization (IOM). The Certifying States submitting the application were Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union.

IOM is the sixth applicant to be approved as a pioneer investor in seabed mining, under the terms of Resolution II of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. It has asked for exploration rights to a 150,000-square kilometre area situated in international waters south-west of Baja California, Mexico.

France, India, Japan and the Soviet Union were named the first pioneer investors, having been registered in 1987. China's application was approved in March 1991.

Pioneer investors are assured of receiving mining contracts from the Seabed Authority after the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea enters into force. The Convention now has 49 ratifications and 2 accessions. Sixty ratifications or accessions are needed for its entry into force.

Pioneer investors are granted exclusive rights to explore designated areas of the international seabed. Their obligations include paying a $1-million annual fee to the Authority, training personnel, transferring technology to the Enterprise--the seabed mining arm of the Authority--and exploring a mine site for an Enterprise operation.

During the session, the Preparatory Commission completed a second reading of a draft agreement on the relationship between the UN and the future Authority, adopting 12 of 22 articles. These dealt with the purpose of the agreement, general matters, cooperation and coordination, relationships with the International Court of Justice, reciprocal representation, technical assistance, use of the UN laissezpasser, implementation of the agreement, its amendments and entry into force. The plenary also considered a paper on administrative arrangements, structure and financial implications of the Authority.

Positive direction

Acting Commission Chairman Henrique Valle of Brazil said that despite continuing difficulties, several concrete steps had been taken in a positive direction. There had been relative progress in the mandates of the four Special Commissions, which deal with land-based producer States, the Enterprise, the mining code and the Sea Law Tribunal, respectively.

A 21-member Training Panel considered the training schedules of pioneer investors, in connection with the initial manpower requirements of the Enterprise.

Traineeships, the Panel stated, should cover priority engineering disciplines, including chemical, metallurgical, electrical, electronic and mechanical mining, as well as marine geology, marine geophysics and marine ecology.

Thailand, speaking for the "Group of 77" developing countries, expressed disappointment with the outcome of the session. It called for constructive cooperation and flexibility by industrialized nations to ensure the early completion of the Preparatory Commission's tasks.

The group was as concerned as the industrialized countries about cost-effectiveness of institutions to be created under the Convention, Thailand said. The so-called "hard core" issues, which include transfer of technology, seabed mining production policy and finance, and budgetary matters, should be resolved by both sides working together.