A Study On The Sponsoring State Responsibility In The Development Of International Seabed Areas

The international seabed area is rich in resources.The improvement of science and technology makes it possible to explore and exploit the resources of the international seabed area,but at the same time,the natural conditions of the international seabed area are poor and the ecological environment is fragile.Non-standard activities of Human beings will have a great impact on the area.In order to regulate the activities of mankind in the area,part 11 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates a number of legal system,including Responsibilities and Obligations of States Sponsoring Persons and Entities with Respect to Activities in the Area.It requires Sponsoring States to provide the obligation to ensure the conduct of activities in the international seabed area by individuals and entities,even though the Sponsoring State is not directly engaged in activities in the area.If the sponsoring state fails to fulfill its obligation,it shall undertake sponsoring state responsibility.However,the Convention provides for a vague picture of the nature of the responsibility regime of Sponsoring State and the doctrine of liability.Therefore,this paper is entitled "Study on the Sponsoring States Responsibility in the Development of International Seabed Area" in order to provide some help for China's future activities in the area.This dissertation is divided into five chapters.The first chapter summarizes the legal status and exploitative system of international seabed and their resources and introduce the sponsoring state's responsibility under the parallel exploitation system.The second chapter is a study of the nature of State responsibility.It is a new type of state responsibility that determines the responsibility of the state.Starting with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Advisory opinion of the seabed disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea,to explain the nature of the liability which is parallel responsibility instead of joint responsibility or supplementary responsibility.The third chapter explains the principle of imputation and the constitutive requirements of the responsibility of sponsoring state,combining the main views of international organizations and other States on the principle of imputation of responsibility,the principle of imputation of sponsoring state should be the fault liability.Chapter IV addresses the question of the scope of compensation for State responsibility.The scope of compensation is defined as decontamination cost and damage compensation cost in conjunction with the ecological environmental assessment method published by the Ministry of Ecological Environment of China.The fifth chapter is the problem that our country should deal with the responsibility as Sponsoring State.As an active developer of the international seabed area,China should further perfect the relevant legislation,and establish the mechanism of supervision and enforcement,and fulfill the obligations of the sponsoring state.China can lay the foundation for better activities in the region.