FRONT MATTER.PMD - International Seabed Authority

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Annex III: art. 13
currencies which are freely available and effectively usable on the major foreign
exchange markets shall be defined in the rules, regulations and procedures of the
Authority in accordance with prevailing international monetary practice.
13. All financial obligations of the contractor to the Authority, as well as all
his fees, costs, expenditures, proceeds and revenues referred to in this article,
shall be adjusted by expressing them in constant terms relative to a base year.
14. The Authority may, taking into account any recommendations of the Economic
Planning Commission and the Legal and Technical Commission, adopt rules,
regulations and procedures that provide for incentives, on a uniform and non-discriminatory
basis, to contractors to further the objectives set out in paragraph 1.
15. In the event of a dispute between the Authority and a contractor over the
interpretation or application of the financial terms of a contract, either party may
submit the dispute to binding commercial arbitration, unless both parties agree to
settle the dispute by other means, in accordance with article 188, paragraph 2.
AGREEMENT, ANNEX, SECTION 8
SECTION 8. FINANCIAL TERMS OF CONTRACTS
(c)
1. The following principles shall provide the basis for establishing rules,
regulations and procedures for financial terms of contracts:
(a) The system of payments to the Authority shall be fair both to the contractor
and to the Authority and shall provide adequate means of
determining compliance by the contractor with such system;
(b) The rates of payments under the system shall be within the range of
those prevailing in respect of land-based mining of the same or similar
minerals in order to avoid giving deep seabed miners an artificial competitive
advantage or imposing on them a competitive disadvantage;
The system should not be complicated and should not impose major administrative
costs on the Authority or on a contractor. Consideration should
be given to the adoption of a royalty system or a combination of a royalty
and profit-sharing system. If alternative systems are decided upon, the
contractor has the right to choose the system applicable to its contract.
Any subsequent change in choice between alternative systems, however,
shall be made by agreement between the Authority and the contractor;
(d) An annual fixed fee shall be payable from the date of commencement of
commercial production. This fee may be credited against other payments
due under the system adopted in accordance with subparagraph (c). The
amount of the fee shall be established by the Council;
(e)
The system of payments may be revised periodically in the light of
changing circumstances. Any changes shall be applied in a non-discriminatory
manner. Such changes may apply to existing contracts only
at the election of the contractor. Any subsequent change in choice between
alternative systems shall be made by agreement between the
Authority and the contractor;