Deep Sea Mining: One International Regime To Rule Them All?

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The second part of 28^th Session of the International Seabed Authority’s Council continues in Jamaica with the international community lying anxiously in wait. One major international actor is notably absent from the discussions: the United States. Like a number of other states, the U.S. has signed but not ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”). It is thus not a State Party/member state. Non-State Parties to UNCLOS (“NSPs”) are not eligible to participate in the regime. Equally, non-State actors which have the sole nationality of a NSP (e.g. a US mining company) cannot obtain sponsorship or apply to the International Seabed Authority (“ISA”) to explore for or exploit deep seabed resources.¹ The question thus arises: will NSPs be bound by the Mining Code the ISA is setting up, or is there a risk of competing legal regimes for deep sea mining beyond national jurisdiction?