Sea law body approves consortium as pioneer investor.

• Position: Interoceanmetal Joint Organization approved as a pioneer investor in seabed mining under United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea

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...