Current Issues In Seabed Mining

When the International Regime for Seabed Mining was introduced at the United Nations in 1994, as an amendment to the Law of the Sea Treaty (the Treaty) the then Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Ambassador Satya Nandan described the proposed regime as providing for: "a stable environment for investors in deep - seabed minerals under a market - oriented regime; it guarantees access to the resources of the seabed to all qualified investors; it provides for the establishment of system of taxation which is fair to the seabed miner and from which the international community as a whole may benefit;"

As of 2013 it is fair to ask what progress has been made towards these goals.