ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES 
DE LA COMMISSION 
 
 
 
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DOCUMENTS "COM" 
 
 
 
 
COM (83) 021 
 
 
 
Vol. 1983/0 009 
  
 
Disclaimer  
Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Communit y and the European Atom ic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), t his file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februa r 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 v om 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(83) 21 final
Brussels, 3 fehruary 1983^ V v -* 1 2 'n
/ 0, \V-·"/\
LAw OF THE SEA
Meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the International 
Sea-Bed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the 
Law of the Sea (Kingston, 15 March - 8 April 1983) - Procedural
and organizational questions affecting the Community and its 
Member States.
(Communication from the Commission to the Council)
COM(83) 21 final

c € ?  H UBrussels,
COMMISSION COMMUNICATION TO THE COUNCIL
Subject :  LAW OF THE SEA :  Meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the 
International Sea-bed Authority and for the Intern 
for the Law of the Sea (Kingston, 15 March - 8 April 1983).
Procedural and organizational questions affecting the Community 
and its Member States.
1· The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea completed
its work on 10 December 1982. Accordingly, the Council Decision of- |4 June 1974 concerning procedures and the decisions establishing
2guidelines and common positions are no longer applicable.
2. In a Communication to the Council dated 13 October 1982 on the results 
of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, the 
Commission recommended the joint signing by the Community and its Member 
States of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, given that signing did 
not prejudice their final position as regards ratification of the 
Convention.
Five Member States have signed the Convention (DK, F, GR, IRL, NL) ; five 
Member States not and the Community, in the light of the participation 
clause, has not signed the Convention either.
3. The number of signatures collected by the Convention at the final session 
was sufficient to enable the Secretariat-General of the United Nations
to announce that the Preparatory Commission would meet from 15 March to 
8 April 1983 in Kingston.
Doc. CS 3/1223/ 1/74 (JUR 78) REV. 1
Doc. CS 1/271/76 MARE JUR 17 AGRI 12 of 28 July 1976 
Doc. CS R/1864/77 of 22 July 1977 
Doc. CS 4945/81 of 20 February 1981 
Doc. CS 5031/82 of 19 February 1982

In these circumstances, the Commission is convinced that the signing 
of the Convention, accompanied by a political declaration linking the 
final decision of the Community and its Member States to the clarifi­
cations and progress made during the work of the Preparatory Commission 
is still the path to be followed by the Community. The Commission hope 
that the conditions for the signing of the Convention by the Community 
will be met by 15 March.
The importance of the 15 March deadline is all the greater as the 
Preparatory Commission represents the last stage before the entry into 
force of the Convention on the Law of the Sea. By its very olpective, 
namely to enable the International Authority to become operational, the 
agenda of the Preparatory Commission includes subjects on which the 
Commission and the Member States have entered reservations, notably :
- the compulsory transfer of technology and its consequences (annex 3, 
article 5) ;
-resources policy, in particular :
a) the guarantee that the pioneer investor will obyain a production 
authorization ;
b) the guarantee that the clauses of the contracts concluded by the 
pioneer investor will be maintened without modification ;
- the financial clauses of the contracts and their interpretation 
along lines that encourage the start-up of industrial production;
- the voting procedure in the Council ;
- the system of compensation in favour of land-based developing 
producers ;
-the power of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea 
to interpret the Convention ;
- the right of international organizations to intervene in disputes 
brought before the Court.

Article 2 of the Resolution establishing the Preparatory Commission 
for the International Sea-Bed Authority and for the International 
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea stipulates that the representatives 
of signatories of the Final Act may participate fully in the deliberations 
of the Commission as observers but may not be entitled to participate 
in the taking of decisions.
In these circumstances, it is necessary without delay :
a) to guarantee a status that makes it possible for the Community 
and its Member States to make their voice heard in a satisfactory 
way. This need is all the greater as five Member States and
the Community, as matters stand at present, will have observer 
status. These differences in status make it difficult to 
adopt positions on the subjects on the agenda for the Preparatory 
Commission which concern the Community directly or are of 
particular interest to the common market ;
b) '  to undertake an assesment of Part XI of the Convention and of
other provisions of the Convention and its annexes. The same 
applies to Resolution II governing preparatory investment in 
pioneer activities relating to polymetallicnodules in order to 
determine, as part of an overall process of reflection, the 
points that could be clarified and improved in the course of 
the work of the Preparatory Commission in the light of the 
reciprocal interests of the Community and its Member States.
The Commission therefore proposes that :
in the deliberations of the Preparatory Commission, a common 
position should be voiced on all matters for which the 
Community has competence or which are of particular interest 
to the common market :  the said common position would be 
established in advance in accordance with the customary procedu­
res (adoption in the Council bodies - coordination on the spot - 
possibility of referral back to the Council bodies in Brussels 
in the event of difficulties on the spe')  ;

4.-
a systematic and in-depth examination should be made of :
a) Part XI of the Convention, which is the source of the divergent 
positions adopted by the Member States ;
b) "the legal questions involved in the work of the Preparatory
Commission for the International Sea-bed Authority and for the 
International Tribunal *or the Law of the Sea.