unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (08/29/89)
on economies. The Commission should arm the Authority with sufficiently clear
criteria to determine the causes of links between the development of a
region's resources and the effects on the developing land based producer
states. There should also be a correct and feasible assessment of the cost of
the methodology used as a situation could emerge where two or more land based
states might have their exports affected unequally, and the Authority would
have problems in determining priorities for them. The Authority should in
such cases be guided by guidelines to determine those priorities.The Special
Commission on Developing Land Based Producer States (Special Commission 1)
this morning continued consideration of its provisional conclusions, which are
to form the basis of recommendations to the International Sea-Bed Authority.
The representative of EEC said conclusion 15 was in fact linked to
numbers 13 and 14, and since price and volume of export were included in 14,
the issues of 15 should be included as well.
The Chair said the questions of government policies and general economic
conditions were included because of the world economic situation and the
effects on the developing land-based countries. Some countries might no
longer be concentrating on mines because of lower metal prices. Some
resources in land-based countries might also have been exhausted, but in any
case there had been a fall in export earnings. The fall in export earnings
had nothing to do with general economic conditions for sea-bed mining, but it
could be a factor which would have to be investigated by the Authority if a
complaint had been received about the adverse effects of sea-bed production.
The representative of Zambia said the sentence starting from "When it
may ..." to the end should be deleted.
The representatives of Thailand and Pakistan agreed with Zambia.
The representative of EEC said the sentence should not be deleted and
that further thought should be given to the conclusion. It should not be done
away with completely, he said, adding that it could be attached to some other
conclusion.
The representative of Zambia said there were provisions in the Convention
on the Law of the Sea for studies on adverse effects on export earnings and
economies of land-based producers caused by activities in the sea-bed area.
Those provisions had been examined many times during the negotiations on the
Convention and after. It had been felt that there was a likelihood of such
adverse effects once production began. The Commission was merely being asked
to work out the guidelines for the studies. It was for the Authority to
determine whether to enter a claim and also how to evaluate it. The last
sentence in the provisional conclusion attempted to prejudge that right.
The representative of Cuba supported the Zambia statement, adding that
there was no need to spell out factors on which such a study should be based.
The representative of Italy said a greater part of the conclusions being
debated had no foundation in the Convention.
The representative of Zaire said a great deal of time had been spent on
the Convention. The issue being discussed had been reflected in statements
during the negotiations on the Convention, and the Commission had no mandate
to rewrite the Convention.
The representative of Japan said the Commission should not dwell so much
on the adverse effects and that perhaps the word "earnings" could be used
without "exports".
The representative of Zambia said the representative of Italy had not
quoted all the relevant provisions of the Convention to support his statement.
The representative of Italy said the study was to be an occasional one to
determine the adverse effects on a State concerned. He did not think that the
Authority would have the means to build models for all countries likely to be
affected.
The representative of Thailand said he found the Italian statement hard
to accept. The Convention was a legal document guiding the Commission. He
saw no inconsistency in the Convention provisions and what the Commission was
doing.
The CHAIRMAN announced that the next meeting of the Committee would be
Wednesday, 30 August.
Before the meeting broke up, the representative of EEC said his
delegation would like to see included in the Chairman's report to the plenary
a reflection of the discussions on conclusion 16. It should include the EEC
view that there should be a revised version of the article, as well as
reference to its financial implications.
The CHAIRMAN said note had been taken of the statement.
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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