30 U.S.C. § 1402

Current through P.L. 118-106 (published on www.congress.gov on 10/04/2024)

Section 1402 - International objectives

(a) Disclaimer of extraterritorial sovereignty

By the enactment of this chapter, the United States-

(1) exercises its jurisdiction over United States citizens and vessels, and foreign persons and vessels otherwise subject to its jurisdiction, in the exercise of the high seas freedom to engage in exploration for, and commercial recovery of, hard mineral resources of the deep seabed in accordance with generally accepted principles of international law recognized by the United States; but

(2) does not thereby assert sovereignty or sovereign or exclusive rights or jurisdiction over, or the ownership of, any areas or resources in the deep seabed.

(b) Secretary of State

(1) The Secretary of State is encouraged to negotiate successfully a comprehensive Law of the Sea Treaty which, among other things, provides assured and nondiscriminatory access to the hard mineral resources of the deep seabed for all nations, gives legal definition to the principle that the resources of the deep seabed are the common heritage of mankind, and provides for the establishment of requirements for the protection of the quality of the environment as stringent as those promulgated pursuant to this chapter.

(2) Until such a Treaty is concluded, the Secretary of State is encouraged to promote any international actions necessary to adequately protect the environment from adverse impacts which may result from any exploration for and commercial recovery of hard mineral resources of the deep seabed carried out by persons not subject to this chapter.

30 U.S.C. § 1402

Pub. L. 96-283, §3, June 28, 1980, 94 Stat. 555.

United States: "United States" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and any other Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and
commercial recovery: "commercial recovery" means-(A) any activity engaged in at sea to recover any hard mineral resource at a substantial rate for the primary purpose of marketing or commercially using such resource to earn a net profit, whether or not such net profit is actually earned;(B) if such recovered hard mineral resource will be processed at sea, such processing; and(C) if the waste of such activity to recover any hard mineral resource, or of such processing at sea, will be disposed of at sea, such disposal;
deep seabed: "deep seabed" means the seabed, and the subsoil thereof to a depth of ten meters, lying seaward of and outside-(A) the Continental Shelf of any nation; and(B) any area of national resource jurisdiction of any foreign nation, if such area extends beyond the Continental Shelf of such nation and such jurisdiction is recognized by the United States;
exploration: "exploration" means-(A) any at-sea observation and evaluation activity which has, as its objective, the establishment and documentation of-(i) the nature, shape, concentration, location, and tenor of a hard mineral resource; and(ii) the environmental, technical, and other appropriate factors which must be taken into account to achieve commercial recovery; and(B) the taking from the deep seabed of such quantities of any hard mineral resource as are necessary for the design, fabrication, and testing of equipment which is intended to be used in the commercial recovery and processing of such resource;