International Seabed Authority - Controversy

Controversy

The exact nature of the ISA's mission and authority has been questioned by opponents of the Law of the Sea Treaty who are generally skeptical of multilateral engagement by the United States. The United States is the only major maritime power that has not ratified the Convention (see United States non-ratification of the UNCLOS), with one of the main anti-ratification arguments being a charge that the ISA is flawed or unnecessary. In its original form, the Convention included certain provisions that some found objectionable, such as:

• Imposition of permit requirements, fees and taxation on seabed mining; ban on mining absent ISA permission
• Use of collected money for wealth redistribution in addition to ISA administration
• Mandatory technology transfer

Because of these concerns, the United States pushed for modification of the Convention, obtaining a 1994 Agreement on Implementation that somewhat mitigates them and thus modifies the ISA's authority. Despite this change the United States has not ratified the Convention and so is not a member of ISA, although it sends sizable delegations to participate in meetings as an observer. On 31 October 2007 the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate, by a vote of 17 to 4, recommended ratification, and President George W. Bush publicly supported U.S. accession to the Convention; no date has yet been set for action by the full Senate.