JAMAICA, Kingston (17 July 2015) – – The Council of the International Seabed Authority meeting in Kingston yesterday elected its four vice-presidents for the twenty-first session.
The vice presidents are: Brazil, for the Latin American and Caribbean Group; Germany for the Western European and Others Group; Nigeria for the African Group and Poland for the Eastern European Group.
The Council also considered the report of the Finance Committee, presented by its Chair, Olav Myklebust (Norway), and the report of the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) presented by its Chair, Christian Reichert (Germany).
The Council also continued its deliberations on agenda item 12 relating to procedures and criteria for extensions of contracts for exploration for marine minerals, which are due to expire between 2016 and 2017.
The report of the Finance Committee made several recommendations to Council which included setting the fee for processing an application for extension of a contract for exploration for marine minerals in the Area at $67,000; encouraged contractors to accept the relevant amendments to the standard terms of contract to ensure equitable burden-sharing among all contractors; urged members of the Authority to pay their assessed contributions; and encouraged members to make voluntary contributions to the Endowment Fund for Marine Scientific Research in the Area and the Voluntary Trust Fund of the Authority.
The report of the LTC covered draft regulations for the exploitation of mineral resources in the Area; data management and standardization; and matters referred to the Commission by the Council such as procedures and criteria for applications for extension of contracts for exploration in the Area; issues relating to the sponsorship by States of contracts of exploration in the Area; and preparation of draft procedures on the handling of confidential data and information as provided for in rule 12 of the rules of procedure of the Commission.
Full Releases for Thursday 16 July: SB-21-6 | SB-21-7
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