The Legislative Evolution Of International Seabed Area And Its Inspirations To China

With the development of the technology of Deep-sea mining, parties of the UNCLOS participating the international seabed area (hereinafter AREA) activities has gradually change the stage to the exploitation from exploration. By the study of the evolution of domestic legislation on the AREA, this paper provides some inspirations for China's AREA development legislation.The article analyzes the evolution of the legal system for AREA development in both international and domestic aspects in the first chapter. For the international principles and regulations, the chapter studies not only the UNCLOS and relative instruments, but also the regulations made by International Seabed Authority. In addition, the chapter also introduces the Case NO.17 of ITLOS, which is the advisory opinion on the responsibilities and obligations of a sponsoring state for the development of AREA.The second chapter summarizes the evolution of the legal system by dividing the evolution into three stages. The first is the Reciprocating States legislation, the second is the domestic legislation after UNCLOS being effective and at last is the legislation after the Case NO.17 of ITLOS.The last chapter of this article provides the inspirations to the China's domestic legislation. This chapter analyzes China's activities on AREA and the relative law for example, the Mineral Resources Law and the Marine Environment Protection Law. By the study of this paper, China should not only apply the precautionary approach, best environmental practices, Environmental Impact Assessment, but also establish the fiscal and financial system to fulfil the sponsoring state obligations and release from liability. China should also establish a governmental administration agency to perform the regulatory. In addition, China can promote the domestic legislation by suggesting International Seabed Authority to make model law on the development of AREA.