United Nations involvement in ocean mining

Abstract

Abstract Developing country governments seek implementation of the New International Economic Order (NIEO) through the medium of United Nations involvement in ocean mining. To understand the debate over the Draft Treaty it is important to identify the various functions that a UN authority could perform. There is, for example, no full precedent for a joint venture in which one of the parties, the Enterprise, is an international organization. Moreover, a central question regarding the proposed Seabed Authority is whether both promotion and control of commercial activity can be performed appropriately by the same agency. The essay considers a mining regime as envisaged under the Draft Treaty and alternatively as it may be under an interim reciprocal regime in the event of nonratification. Whatever the outcome of LOS III, another alternative, incremental implementation, should be rereviewed carefully.