Agreement Concerning Interim Arrangements Relating to 
Polymetallic Nodules of the Deep Sea Bed 

Done at Washington: 2 September 1982 

Entered into force: 2 September 1982 

THE PARTIES TO THIS AGREEMENT: 

HAVING regard to investments made in exploration, research and 
other pioneer activities relating to the polymetallic nodules of 
the deep sea bed; 

NOTING the adoption by the Third United Nations Conference on 
the Law of the Sea of a Convention on the Law of the Sea and of 
a Resolution Governing Preparatory Investment in Pioneer 
Activities Relating to Polymetallic Nodules prior to the entry 
into force of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the 
provision of that Resolution concerning resolution of conflicts 
among pioneer operators 

RECALLINC the interim character of legislation with respect to 
deep sea bed operations enacted by certain Parties; 

DESIRING to make appropriate provisions for avoiding overlaps in 
the areas claimed for future pioneer activities in the deep sea 
bed and to ensure that, during the interim period, such 
activities are carried out in an orderly and peaceful manner; 

EMPHASIZING that this Agreement is without prejudice to the 
decisions of the Parties with respect to the Convention on Law 
of the Sea adopted by the Third United Nations Conference on the 
Law of the Sea; 

DESIRING also to avoid any discrimination among Parties in the 
implementation of this Agreement; 

DESIRING further to insure that adequate areas containing 
polymetallic nodules remain available for operations by other 
states and entities in conformity with international law; 

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: 

1. The object of the present Agreement is to facilitate the 
identification and resolution of conflicts which may arise from 
the filing and processing of applications for authorizations 
made by Pre-Enactment Explorers (PEEs) on or before March 
12,1982 under legislation in respect of deep sea bed operations 
enacted by any of the Parties. 

2. In the case of a conflict between the areas claimed in such 
applications, the Parties shall afford the applicants adequate 
opportunity, and shall encourage them, to resolve such conflict 
in a timely manner by voluntary procedures. 

3.The Parties with whom applications for authorizations have 
been made by PEEs on or before March 12,1982 shall follow the 
procedures set out in Part I of the Schedule hereto in respect 
of such applications. 

The Parties shall consult together: 

(a)with a view to coordinating and reviewing implementation of 
this Agreement; 

(b)before issuing any authorization under their respective laws 
relating to deep sea bed operations; 

(c) in regard to consideration of any arrangement to facilitate 
mutual recognitions of such authorizations, it being understood 
that any such arrangement shall not enter into force before 
January 1,1983; 

(d) before entering into any other bilateral or any multilateral 
arrangement between themselves or any arrangement with other 
States, with respect to deep sea bed operations. 

5. In the event that any of the Parties with whom applications 
for authorizations have been made by PEEs on or before March 12, 
1982 enter into an agreement for the mutual recognition of 
authorizations granted under their respective laws in respect of 
deep sea bed operations, the parties concerned shall apply the 
procedures and impose the requirements set out in Part II of the 
Schedule hereto. 

6. To the extent permissible under national law, a Party shall 
maintain the confidentiality of the coordinates of application 
areas and other proprietary or confidential commercial 
information received in confidence from any other Party in 
pursuance of cooperation under this Agreement in accordance with 
the principles set out in Part III of the Schedule hereto. 

7. The Parties shall settle any dispute arising from the 
interpretation or application of this Agreement by appropriate 
means. The Parties to the dispute shall consider the possibility 
of recourse to binding arbitration and, if they agree, shall 
have recourse to it. 

8. The Schedule hereto is an integral part of this Agreement and 
Part IV thereof shall apply for the interpretationof this 
agreement 

9. The Parties shall not enter into any supplementary 
international agreement inconsistent with this Agreement. 

10. This Agreement may be amended by written agreement of all 
the Parties. 

11. This Agreement shall enter into force upon signature. 

12. After entry into force of this Agreement, additional States 
may be invited to accede to this Agreement at any time with the 
consent of all Parties. 

13. Any Party may denounce this Agreement on 30 days' notice to 
the Government of the United States of America, and in no case 
shall the denunciation have effect before January 3,1983. 

DONE at Washington this second day of September, 1982, in the 
English, German and French languages, all texts being equally 
authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the 
archives of the Government of the United States of America, 
which will transmit a duly certified copy to each of the other 
signatory Governments. 

THE SCHEDULE 

PART I 

APPLICATION PROCEDURES FOR PRE-ENACTMENT EXPLORERS 

1. Each Party as provided in paragraph 3 of the Agreement shall 
forthwith inform the other Parties of entities which have filed 
applications with it. 

2. Any application filed on or before March 12,1982 shall be 
deemed to be filed on that date. 

3. Each Party shall with all dispatch determine whether: 

(a) each application filed with it fulfills its domestic 
requirements; 

(b) the applicant is a PEE with respect to the area applied for 
(an applicant filing on behalf of a PEE shall itself be deemed a 
PEE for that application); 

(c) the area is bounded by a continuous boundary; the area is 
reasonably compact. 

4. Each Party shall: 

(a) notify the other Parties of the results of the initial 
processing under paragraph 3 above; 

(b) with the other Parties establish the final list of 
applications to which this Agreement applies; 

(c) inform the other Parties whether the applicant has applied 
for the same area, or substantially the same area, to one or 
more other Parties; 

(d) if the applicant agrees, inform the other Parties of the 
coord filed with it; 

(e) endeavor to determine the exact locations of any conflicts. 

5. No Party shall issue any authorization before January 3,1983. 

6. Where it is informed of the relevant coordinates, each Party 
shall notify each of its applicants who is involved in a 
conflict that a conflict exists. Such notification shall include 
coordinates identifying the areas in conflict and the identity 
of each applicant with whom conflict has arisen. 

7. Each Party shall ensure that domestic conflicts are resolved 
pursuant to its respective domestic requirements. Upon agreement 
of the applicants, domestic conflicts may be resolved in 
accordance with the international conflict resolution procedures 
specified in the Schedule. The Parties shall enter into 
consultations if it appears that the resolution of a domestic 
conflict might affect the international conflict resolution 
procedures,or vice versa. 

8. (1) Each Party shall accept amendments to applications to 
which this Agreement applies only if they: 

(a) pertain to areas with respect to which the applicant is a 
PEE (the area applied for in amendment need not be adjacent to 
the area applied for in the original application); and 

(b)are made in order to resolve an existing conflict with 
respect to that application. 

(2) Each Party shall process any amendment filed pursuant to 
this paragraph in accordance with the procedures described in 
the foregoing provisions of this Part except that paragraphs 2, 
3(c), 3(d), and 4(c) shall not apply to amendments. 

(3) Amendments filed under paragraph 8 of the Schedule shall be 
eligible for mutual recognition in accordance with the terms of 
an agreement entered into by any of the Parties pursuant to 
paragraph 5 of the Agreement. 

PART II 

CONFLICT RESOLUTION FOR PREENACTMENT EXPLORERS 

9. (1) Where there is an international conflict, the Parties 
shall use their good offices to assist the applicants to resolve 
the conflict by voluntary procedures. 

(2) If, within six months from the entry into force of an 
agreement between the Parties referred to in paragraph 5 of the 
Agreement, notwithstanding the good offices of the Parties, all 
applicants involved in an international conflict have not 
resolved that conflict, or are not parties to a written 
agreement submitting the conflict to a specified binding 
conflict resolution procedure, the conflict shall be resolved by 
binding arbitration in accordance with Appendices 1 and 2 if a 
Party so elects. 

(3) The procedures provided in the Appendices shall commence ten 
days after a Party notifies the other Party or Parties of the 
decision to elect arbitration. 

PART III 

PRINCIPLES OF CONFIDENTIALITY 

10. In implementing the provisions of paragraph 6 of the 
Agreement, parties shall apply the following principles; 

(a) The confidentiality of the coordinates of application areas 
shall be maintained until any conflict involving such area is 
resolved and the relevant authorization is issued, except on the 
basis of a demonstrated need to know and adequate assurances 
that the confidentiality of the information shall be maintained 
by the recipient; 

(b) The confidentiality of other proprietary or confidential 
commercial information shall be maintained in accordance with 
domestic law as long as such information retains its character 
as such. 

PART IV 

DEFINITIONS 

(a)"activities" means the undertakings, commitments of 
resources, investigations, findings, research, engineering 
development, and other activities relevant to the 
identification, discovery, and systematic analysis and 
evaluation of polymetallic nodules and to the determination of 
the technical and economic feasibility of exploitation; 

(b)"authorization" means any license, permit, or other 
authorization issued under the national law of a Party which 
authorizes the holder to engage in deep sea bed operations in a 
specified area or areas; 

(c)"conflict" means the existence of more than one application 
or amendment covered by this Agreement submitted by different 
applicants: 

(1) whether filed with the same Party or with more than one 
Party; and 

(2) in which the deep sea bed areas applied for overlap in whole 
or part, to the extent of the overlap; 

"international conflict" means a conflict arising from 
applications or amendments filed with more than one Party; 

"domestic conflict" means any other conflict; 

(d) "pre-enactment explorer" ("PEE") is an entity which was 
engaged, prior to the earliest date of enactment of domestic 
legislation by any Party, in deep sea bed polymetallic nodule 
exploration by substantial surveying activity with respect to 
the area applied for; and 

(e) "polymetallic nodules" means any deposit or accretion on or 
just below the surface of the deep sea bed consisting of nodules 
which contain manganese, nickel, cobalt, or copper. 

APPENDIX 1 

Arbitration Procedure 

In this Appendix, "Party" means a Party to this Agreement which 
is also concerned in the arbitration, "Party" includes any such 
Party or Parties. 

2. The parties presenting the case shall seek to agree in 
writing within sixty days after the expiry of the ten-day period 
provided by paragraph 9(3) of the Schedule on three arbitrators, 
or, if they agree to have only one arbitrator, on that one 
arbitrator. 

3. Any Party may object to the choice of any arbitrator or 
arbitrators under paragraph 2, by written notice received by the 
other Party within thirty days after the expiry of the period 
provided by paragraph 2 above. Upon objection to any arbitrator 
by a Party, the other Party may, when three arbitrators have 
been chosen under paragraph 2, object to either or both of the 
other arbitrators by written notice received by the other Party 
within fifteen days after the expiry of the period provided by 
the immediately preceding sentence. 

4. If a Party objects to the choice of any arbitrator in 
accordance with paragraph 3 or if an arbitrator becomes unable 
to act, the parties presenting the case shall seek to agree on a 
replacement in writing within sixty days after receipt of the 
notice of objection or after the date when the arbitrator 
becomes unable to act. 

If agreement is reached, a Party may object to the choice of a 
replacement by written notice received by the other Party within 
thirty days. If the parties presenting the case have not reached 
agreement, or if a Party objects to the choice of a replacement 
in accordance with this paragraph, the Secretary-General of the 
Permanent Court of Arbitration shall appoint a replacement 
without delay. 

5. If the parties presenting the case fail to agree on three 
arbitrators (or an arbitrator) within the period provided by 
paragraph 2, three arbitrators shall, on request of a Party, be 
appointed without delay by the SecretaryGeneral of the Permanent 
Court of Arbitration. 

6. Any arbitrator appointed by the Secretary-General of the 
Permanent Court of Arbitration shall not be a citizen of a 
Party, shall have international standing and expertise, and 
shall have personal characteristics which place him in a neutral 
position with respect to the subject of the dispute. The 
Secretary-General shall not be confined to any particular list 
of arbitrators in making this selection. Appointments by the 
Secretary-General shall not be open to challenge. 

7. Insofar as any matter is not dealt with by Appendix 2 and 
other relevant provisions of this Agreement, the arbitrator or 
arbitrators shall, consistent with Appendix 2, be guided by the 
general principles of law as recognized by the Parties, which, 
where the case is presented by a Party or Parties means the 
general principles of public international law (lex lata) as 
recognized by the Parties. 

8. The arbitrator or arbitrators shall decide where he or they 
shall sit and shall, in consultation with the parties presenting 
the case, adopt rules of procedure consistent with this 
Appendix. 

9. The case will be presented by a Party or by its applicants 
involved in the conflict, at the option of the Party and each 
side of the case shall be represented as it sees fit. 

10. A Party may intervene as of right. 

11. An arbitrator may not abstain from voting on the award. If 
there are three arbitrators, their award shall be made by a 
majority vote. 

12. The award of the arbitrator or arbitrators shall be rendered 
within one year from the date of the final appointment of the 
arbitrator or arbitrators unless all Parties or parties 
presenting the case otherwise agree or unless the arbitrator or 
arbitrators for good cause extend the deadline for the making of 
the award for one or more 30 day periods, in any case not to 
exceed 120 days. 

The award shall be final and binding on the applicants involved 
in the conflict and on the Parties and shall be enforced by the 
Parties. The applicants involved in the conflict shall without 
delay file amendments to their applications consistent with the 
arbitral award. Within two months of the date of the award, a 
Party or any applicant represented in the arbitration may 
request an interpretation of the award. Such interpretation 
shall be provided within four months of the request. 

13. The expense of the arbitration, including the remuneration 
of the arbitrators, shall be borne by the parties presenting the 
case. Unless the arbitrator or arbitrators determine otherwise 
because of the particular circumstances of the case, the parties 
presenting the case shall bear the expenses in equal shares. 

14. If an applicant of a Party is involved in conflicts with two 
or more applicants of two or more States Parties to this 
Agreement, every effort shall be made to consolidate the 
arbitration proceedings. 

APPENDIX 2 

Principles for Resolution of Conflicts 

1. In determining the issue as to which applicant involved in a 
conflict shall be awarded all or part of each area in conflict, 
the arbitral tribunal shall find a solution which is fair and 
equitable, having regard, with respect to each applicant 
involved in the conflict, to the following factors: 

(a) the continuity and extent of activities relevant to each 
area in conflict and the application area of which it is a part; 

(b) the data on which each applicant involved in the conflict or 
predecessor in interest or component organization thereof 
commenced activities at sea in the application area; 

(c) the financial cost of activities relevant to each area in 
conflict and to the app a part, measured in constant terms; 

(d) the time when activities were carried out, and the quality 
of activities; and 

(e) such additional factors as the arbitral tribunal determines 
to be relevant, but of the future plans of work of the 
applicants involved in the conflict. 

When considering the factors specified in paragraph 1, the 
arbitral tribunal shall hear, and shall, except for purposes of 
apportionment pursuant to paragraph 3, limit its consideration 
to all evidence based on the activities specified in paragraph 
1, which were conducted on or before January 1,1982, provided, 
however, that an applicant must prove at-sea prospecting in the 
conflict area prior to June 28,1980 as a pre-condition to 
presentation of further evidence to the arbitral tribunal 
regarding activities in the conflict area. 

3. In making its determination, the arbitral tribunal may award 
the entire area in conflict to one applicant involved in the 
conflict, or the arbitral tribunal may apportion the area among 
any or all of the applicants involved in the conflict. If, after