A Joint Venture Agreement for Seabed Mining

The Third Uni ted Nations Conference on the Lawof the Sea is preparing rules far the establishment of an international legal regime governing the exploration and exploitation of the resources of the international seabed. The Draft Convention on the Law of the Sea (Informal Text) of 27 August 1980 which has so far been the result of the negotiations during the preceding sessions of the Conference, provides for a so-called "parallel system" under which an international "Enterprise" as weIl as national private or state-owned companies will be granted access to the resources of the international seabed under the control of an International Seabed Authority. The Draft Convention also envisages the condusion of joint venture agreements between the international Enterprise and national companies or consortia, and encourages such cooperation through grant- ing various incentives. Such joint ventures will probably play an important part in making the international Enterprise operative in the early years of its existence. At the Conference concerns have been expressed whether and when the Enterprise as a newcomer would be in a position to start seabed mining and to compete effectively with the national companies. The Draft Convention provides for a number of ways and means to enable the Enterprise to develop its technological and financial capabilities for deep sea mining as early as possible.