The International Seabed Authority, minerals held as the common heritage of humankind, and a United States place with no vote

Background

Mineral work on the ocean floor that lies outside every country's waters is handled by the International Seabed Authority, or ISA. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982 and shortened to UNCLOS, created it as an autonomous organization, and parties to that Convention are watched by the ISA when they carry on mineral-related activities in waters beyond national jurisdiction. Its own existence began with the adoption of the 1994 Agreement, the instrument that reworked the seabed mining rules of UNCLOS, and the Authority was fully operational in 1996. Minerals gathered beyond national jurisdiction count as the common heritage of humankind under Article 136, while Article 137 bars any State from claiming sovereignty over the Area or the resources in it. Exploration contracts have been issued by the Authority since 2001, and most of those for polymetallic nodules lie in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific floor. Patches of seabed are set apart by the ISA as areas of particular environmental interest, and it keeps reserved areas as well, so that developing countries can reach mineral resources. Its Council takes the working decisions, with the Legal and Technical Commission reporting to it. The United States has joined neither UNCLOS nor the 1994 Agreement, so it sits as an observer state, holds no vote in ISA business and cannot obtain a contract. A regulatory regime for extraction is still to be adopted, which is why no exploitation contract has been issued.