Legal System Of Commercial Exploitation Of Mineral Resources In The International Seabed Area

Mineral resources are important for social development.Due to the limited nature of mineral resources,terrestrial mineral resources are increasingly depleted.The international seabed area(hereinafter referred to as the “region”)has abundant mineral resources with high quality,and is expected to be a supplement and replacement for terrestrial resources.In recent years,countries around the world have paid more and more attention to “regional” mineral resources and actively participated in relevant technical research and “regional” system formulation.As an international management organization for the “region”,the International Seabed Authority(hereinafter referred to as “the Authority”)is also actively developing regulations to promote the commercial development of “regional” resources.In the face of the upcoming development phase,the Authority announced in 2017 the “Regulations on the Development of Mineral Resources in the “Region”(hereinafter referred to as the “Draft Development Regulations”).The draft is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"),the Agreement on the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Agreement")and the Authority.Other relevant rules and regulations have been formulated,and the system has integrated the contract terms and mining regulations,environmental regulations,and the regulations of the mining regulations of the Authority,which avoids the duplication of documents,and the existing three The exploration regulations are linked to the first relatively systematic system document issued by the Authority for the development phase.The formulation and improvement of the “Regional” development regulations is to guide the development process of the development subject,coordinate the conflict between economic development and environmental protection,balance the interests of different subjects,and effectively safeguard the “property principle of human inheritance” to protect the interests of all mankind.Based on the research on the relevant systems and development process of “regional” mineral resources development,this paper focuses on the discussion and analysis of the main institutional contents involved in the “regional” mineral resources commercial development system.It explain the main provisions and existing problems in the Convention Implementation Agreement and the Draft Development Regulations on the above aspects,and put forward relevant suggestions for improvement in four aspects,including “regional” production policy,guarantee country responsibility,benefit sharing mechanism and marine environmental protection system.This paper argues that the current non-restricted production policy in the system is not conducive to the sustainable development of the “region” and should focus on sustainable development on the basis of a free market.The provisions on the responsibility of the sponsoring country should be more specific to guide the practice.Based on the imperfect economic development level,development technology and legislative techniques of developing countries,common but differentiated requirements should be adopted for developed and developing countries.We need to reference the land mineral resources and the interest sharing mechanism of developed countries to clarify the model of benefit sharing,and make full use of the benefit sharing system to coordinate the conflicts of interests of all parties.It is also important to improve the marine environmental protection system,set environmental protection goals,establish a database of environmental parameters,and clarify damage standards.In view of the fact that the development has not yet been carried out and the requirements for technology in the deep sea development are too high,the risk of the development subject is so large,and it is not appropriate to formulate too strict standards to influence its enthusiasm.In face of the intense “regional” competition situation,China should actively participate in the construction of the legal system for the commercial development of “regional” mineral resources,promote the development of international cooperation and further improve the domestic deep-sea legal system to avoid the risks that may arise from the development of “regional” resources.