Common Heritage or Common Burden? The United States Position on the Development of a Regime for Deep Sea-Bed Mining in the Law of the Sea Convention

by Schmidt, Markus G.; Richardson, Elliot L.

• ISBN13: 9780198252276
• ISBN10: 0198252277
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1990-02-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This study presents a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the U.S. role in the United Nations negotiations on the Law of Sea and on one of the remaining commons, the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction. Drawing on material collected from interviews with many key negotiators, the study provides a better understanding of domestic and international decision-making procedures and the dynamics of international negotiations.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction: An Outline of the Problems	p. 1
The Build-up to UNCLOS, Pardo's Common Heritage Proposal, and the United States View on the Lawfulness of Deep Sea-bed Mining
The build-up to UNCLOS	p. 18
Pardo's Common Heritage Proposal	p. 22
The United States view on the lawfulness of deep sea-bed mining	p. 30
Summary and conclusion	p. 42
Dilemmas of United States Domestic Sea-bed Politics
The line-up of actors and their roles	p. 44
Actors at executive branch level	p. 44
The input of Congress	p. 51
The mining industry's role	p. 55
The United States delegation to UNCLOS	p. 59
The role of non-governmental organizations	p. 63
The role of the media	p. 67
The Interagency Task Force on the Law of the Sea and the Law of the Sea Advisory Committee	p. 69
The Interagency Task Force	p. 69
The Law of the Sea Advisory Committee	p. 76
Summary and conclusion	p. 77
Towards Domestic Sea-bed Legislation
Rationale for United States sea-bed legislation	p. 80
Legislative activities, 1971-1976	p. 83
Towards government support for sea-bed legislation	p. 86
Major issues in sea-bed legislation, 1977-1978	p. 88
Activities in the 96th Congress, 1979-1980	p. 94
The Group of 77's response to United States sea-bed legislation	p. 99
Summary and conclusion	p. 101
The United States Position in Committee One at UNCLOS--Part One: the Negotiation of the System of Exploitation
Introductory remarks	p. 103
Possible regulatory mechanisms for deep sea-bed mining	p. 103
The 'precedential implications' of the sea-bed negotiations and the background of the New International Economic Order	p. 105
Conference organization and procedures	p. 109
The negotiation of the system of exploitation	p. 115
UNCLOS and the 'package deal'	p. 116
The sea-bed negotiations in 1974	p. 118
The negotiation of the Informal Single Negotiating Text	p. 121
The parallel system and the negotiation of the Revised Single Negotiating Text	p. 124
Turning back the clock? The Informal Composite Negotiating Text of 1977	p. 131
'Walking back the Informal Composite Negotiating Text': The negotiations in 1978	p. 139
The negotiations in 1979 and 1980	p. 142
The United States Position in Committee One at UNCLOS--Part Two
The negotiation of the financial terms of contract	p. 148
The technology transfer issue	p. 160
The issue of preparatory investment protection	p. 169
The structure of the International Sea-bed Authority	p. 176
The United States Position in Committee One at UNCLOS--Part Three: The Production Policy Debate
The impact of sea-bed mining on the markets of nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese	p. 188
The production policy debate, 1974-1977	p. 191
The production policy debate, 1978-1981	p. 197
Other potential mechanisms to assist land-based producers	p. 202
The 'strategic importance' of deep sea-bed mining	p. 204
Summary and conclusion, chapters 4-6	p. 211
The Reagan Administration's Policy Review
The build-up to the review	p. 214
The announcement of the review	p. 222
The spring 1981 session and the first stages of the review	p. 228
The summer 1981 session of the conference	p. 234
The completion of the review and the build-up to the last session	p. 240
Negotiations at the final session	p. 243
The final stage of the conference and the vote	p. 249
Summary and conclusion	p. 257
The Reagan Administration's Law of the Sea Policy, 1982-1987
Background to the 1983 Reagan proclamation of an Exclusive Economic Zone and the Ocean Policy Statement	p. 261
The status of the Convention's non sea-bed provisions	p. 264
The growing resource interest in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone	p. 274
United States attempts to establish an alternative regime for deep sea-bed mining	p. 277
United States attitudes towards the work of PrepCom	p. 288
Summary and conclusion	p. 304
Conclusion and Outlook	p. 307
Names of Persons Interviewed	p. 319
Exploration Licences Issued by United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Deep Sea-bed Hard Mineral Resources Act	p. 327
Bibliography	p. 329
Index	p. 359
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