JAMAICA, Kingston (27 November 2018) – – The Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority has released the submissions from member States and other stakeholders to the “Draft regulations on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area” (ISBA/24/LTC/WP.1/Rev.1) together with a Briefing Note (ISBA/25/C/2) to supplement the remarks made by the Council at its July 2018 meeting (ISBA/24/C/8/Add.1, Annex 1).
The Secretariat has received 41 submissions to the draft regulations;1 the breakdown of stakeholder submissions by stakeholder category is follows: Regional groups (1); Member States (21); ISA contractors (6 ); Relevant international organizations (1); Industry and other associations (2): Environmental NGOs (1); Intergovernmental organizations (1); Academic / scientific (3), and Private persons (5).
The Briefing Note provides a broad overview of the main thematic issues addressed in the written submissions.
Based on an analysis of the submissions, the note also identifies eight critical areas for discussion by the Council at its first meeting in 2019, with a view to providing clear policy direction to the Legal and Technical Commission as it works to revise the regulatory text.
– END –
ISBA/PR/2018/053