Advisory Opinion On Responsibilities And Obligations Of Sponsoring States And Legislation On The "Area" Of China

On1February2011, the Seabed Disputes Chamber of InternationalTribunal for the Law of the Sea delivered its Advisory Opinion on"responsibilities and obligations of States sponsoring persons andentities with respect to activities in the Area", the Advisory Opinionwas requested by the Council of the International Seabed Authority onthree questions of the legal responsibilities and obligations ofsponsoring States, the liability of sponsoring States and the necessaryand appropriate measures of sponsoring States.The Seabed Disputes Chamber clarified the law to be applied, questionsof treaty interpretation, the scope of the questions requested, thecontent of the "duty to ensure" and direct obligations of sponsoringStates, that the general provisions concerning responsibility andliability apply equally to all sponsoring States, compensable damage, theentitled claimants for compensation, the scope of the liability ofsponsoring States, the amount and form of reparation, the relationshipbetween contractor and sponsoring State liabilities, that on the questionof residual liability ISA might seek redress through establishment of atrust found and the form, function, content and principle of sponsoringState’s measures, the Advisory Opinion delivered by the Seabed DisputesChamber provides a clear legal framework for responsibilities andobligations of sponsoring States. however, the Advisory Opinion has manydeficiencies, the "duty to ensure" and direct obligations of sponsoringStates raised by the Seabed Disputes Chamber is difficult to define, legalbasis of direct obligations is not appropriate, it garbles the obligations between the contractors and the sponsoring States, when the contractordoes not meet his liability in full while sponsoring State is not liablebecause it is not at fault, it should establish residual liability regime.The Advisory Opinion doesn’t have legally binding force, but wecan’t deny it has general legal effect while it lacks the formal bindingforce. Most of the scholars believe that we can’t confound the natureof the non-binding about the Advisory Opinion with the effect of that theAdvisory Opinion enables the act of the country to legalize. In fact, theAdvisory Opinion is always treated as the authoritative legalrepresentation by the body of the request. In view of the judicialauthority of the Advisory Opinion in the international practice, ourcountry needs to deeply study the content of the Advisory Opinion andaccept its claims in order to obtain the effect of the legalization ofState’s act.In recent years, China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association isas the only subject in our country to develop the research and explorationactivities of minerals in the Area. With the activities of the OceanAssociation in the Area more frequent, the legal gaps in the Area areobviously not conductive to the development of China’s Ocean career. Thebuilding of the legal system of the Area is the inevitable choice for ourcountry, it has a far-reaching strategic significance to fulfill theresponsibility of China as a party to the sponsoring State and promotethe development of China’s career in the Area.