30 U.S.C. § 1423

Current through P.L. 118-78 (published on www.congress.gov on 07/30/2024)

Section 1423 - Records, audits, and public disclosure

(a) Records and audits

(1) Each licensee and permittee shall keep such records, consistent with standard accounting principles, as the Administrator shall by regulation prescribe. Such records shall include information which will fully disclose expenditures for exploration and commercial recovery, including processing, of hard mineral resources, and such other information as will facilitate an effective audit of such expenditures.

(2) The Administrator and the Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, shall have access, for purposes of audit and examination, to any books, documents, papers, and records of licensees and permittees which are necessary and directly pertinent to verify the expenditures referred to in paragraph (1).

(b) Submission of data and information

Each licensee and permittee shall be required to submit to the Administrator such data or other information as the Administrator may reasonably need for purposes of making determinations with respect to the issuance, revocation, modification, or suspension of any license or permit; compliance with the reporting requirement contained in section 1469 ¹ of this title; and evaluation of the exploration or commercial recovery activities conducted by the licensee or permittee.

(c) Public disclosure

Copies of any document, report, communication, or other record maintained or received by the Administrator containing data or information required under this subchapter shall be made available to any person upon any request which (1) reasonably describes such record and (2) is made in accordance with rules adopted by the Administrator stating the time, place, fees (if any, not to exceed the direct cost of the services rendered), and procedures to be followed, except that neither the Administrator nor any other officer or employee of the United States may disclose any data or information knowingly and willingly required under this subchapter the disclosure of which is prohibited by section 1905 of title 18. Any officer or employee of the United States who discloses data or information in violation of this subsection shall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 1463(b) of this title.

¹ See References in Text note below.

30 U.S.C. § 1423

Pub. L. 96-283, title I, §113, June 28, 1980, 94 Stat. 571.

EDITORIAL NOTES

REFERENCES IN TEXTSection 1469 of this title, referred to in subsec. (b), was omitted from the Code.

Administrator: "Administrator" means the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
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;
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;
licensee: "licensee" means the holder of a license issued under subchapter I of this chapter to engage in exploration;
permittee: "permittee" means the holder of a permit issued under subchapter I of this chapter to engage in commercial recovery;
person: "person" means any United States citizen, any individual, and any corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, or other entity organized or existing under the laws of any nation;