LOS NEGOTIATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE MARCH SESSION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82S00697R000400120009-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2003
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: December 12, 1975
• Content Type: MF

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DEC 12 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR: JOHN NORTON MOORE
Chairman, The NSC Interagency Task Force
On The Law of The Sea
FROM: ,Edw .rd mod. , Sanders
SUBJECT: LOS Negotiating Instructions for the March
Session
I concur with your draft mean to the President recomrending
that no new negotiating instructions are required for the
March LOS Session. My staff will forward coin nts to you
on the seven issues raised in your cover memo.
Policy guidance will be required, however, in interpreting
present negotiating instructions with regard to International
Seabed Resource Authority (ISRA) participation in commodity
agreements and compensatory financing schemes designed to
protect land-based producers of minerals to be mined in the
seabed. Tb develop such guidance, an eighth point similar to
the attached draft should be added to those discussed in your
cover memo.
On file OMB release instructions apply.
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Q? d0697R0004001 20009-4
Recommendations of the Department of Commerce's
Marine Petroleum and Minerals Advisory Committee
(1) Assurance of access by the United States and its nationals on a
reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis to mineral resources in deep
seabed areas seaward of national. jurisdiction, coupled with security
of tenure.
(2) Assurance that investment agreements or other contractual
arrangements between a private operator and either a state or an
international authority relating to mineral resources exploitation of the
seabed, whether in the continental margin subject to resource jurisdiction
of a coastal state or in the area beyond national jurisdiction, shall be
binding upon the parties to such investment agreements or to other
contractual arrangements according to their terms.
(3) Assurance that disputes arising from such investment agreements
or other contractual arrangements shall be referable to disputes
settlement institutions and procedures which shall be essential elements
of a Law of the Sea Treaty, and that a private party to such an agreement
or arrangement shall have a right to refer such a dispute to arbitration
under such institutions and procedures if its state of nationality does not
invoke the disputes settlement procedures in respect to a particular dispute.
(4) Assurance that basic oceanographic scientific research, including
both national and international programs, will be encouraged and will be
accorded the greatest possible freedom of access to oceanic water masses
and the underlying sea floor and seabed.
(5) Assurance that merchant vessels will have a right of unimpeded
passage through straits used for international transit, in territorial waters,
and in the superjacent waters of any coastal state's economic zone,
where such state may exercise resource jurisdiction, provided such
vessels are in transit and are in compliance with internationally agreed
standards for safety and prevention of pollution.
(6) Adoption of reasonable environmental and safety standards and
safeguards for the overall benefit of mankind as an integral part of marine
exploration and mineral resource development.
CO N El 0 ENTIAL
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8. Protection of Land-Based Producers
Present instructions do not offer the detailed policy guidance the
delegation needs to assure the negotiating positions in Committee I
are consistent with overall U.S. commodity policy and the fundamental
U. S. negotiating objective of assuring "guaranteed nondiscriminatory
access by U. S. firms to deep seabed resources under reasonable
terms, coupled with security of tenure." LDC pressure to increase
their control over raw materials production-and trade increasingly
inpinges on the deep seabed negotiations. At recent intersessional
..negotiations in New York, LDC negotiating strategy focused on two"_.."
related commodity issues: (1.)..participation by ISRA in any inter-
national commdity agreements that might be negotiated for seabed
minerals; and, .(_?J compensatory financing for land-based producers.
Any proposals that imply establishment of international commodity
agreements raise serious issues of overall U.S. commodity policy
which must first be coordinated and cleared with the EPB Commdity
Policy Coordinating Committee. M)reover, ISRA's participation in
any international commdity agreement which directly or indirectly
controls production or prices of State-sponsored ` :i.L'rFS is
inconsistent with present negotiating instructions.
if?ggq9n-odation of land-based producers' interest is required,
compensatory financing rather than comet dity agreements should be
used.. The U. S. delegation's position should be that the liberalized
IMF compensatory financing facility now being negotiated will provide
adequate protection for land-based producers against any loss of
overall export revenues. Though current instructions authorize
adjustment assistance, use of such authority should be avoided if
possible and exercised only as a final fall-back position. OMB and
other agencies responsible for international commdity policy
should approve any such proposal prior to its presentation to the
Conference. If an adjustment assistance scheme proves necessary,
funds should accrue from'profLt sharing with mining firms rather
than from governirent outlays.
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