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Wylie Spicer and Sara Mahaney start first periodic review of International Seabed Authority

Published:

February 4, 2016

McInnes Cooper lawyers Wylie Spicer and Sara Mahaney are among the team members conducting a large analysis of the first periodic review of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The ISA is the regulator of the “Area”, the largest space in the world of the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. The review is being carried out pursuant to Article 154 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This Article requires a general and systematic review of the ISA every five years. This review is the ISA’s first, after 22 years of existence.

Interest in the ocean floor has been intensifying in recent years as the potential for harvesting minerals and other natural resources becomes more real. An assessment of how the ISA is performing in responding to its new mandate is a critical piece in ensuring that the activities on the ocean floor are carried out in an environmentally sound way for the common benefit of mankind.

Using a regional approach, intensive reviews the ISA’s official documents, workshops, questionnaires, and interviews among other methodology will be done. Other team members include, Professor David Johnson, Professor Phil Weaver and Dr. Vikki Gunn of Sescapes Consultants, UK, Dr. Angel Perez of Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Brazil, Akuila Tawake, Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Dr Dire Tladi, a member of the International Law Commission and a professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

An interim report is expected to be considered by the Assembly of the ISA at its 22nd Session in July 2016 with the final report to be submitted in 2017.

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