The 28th Session of the ISA, Part II, was held from June 28 through July 28, 2023, in Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica. The Session of the ISA Council, Part II, was held from July 10 through 21, and the Session of the ISA Assembly was held from July 24 through 28. China, Jamaica, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore and other member states of the ISA dispatched delegations, and observers, including the US, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, and Center for Polar and Deep Ocean Development, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, were present without voting rights.
As the Council failed to accomplish the development of exploitation regulations within two years of the request as stipulated in the 1994 Agreement, it concentrated on discussing important issues such as developing exploitation regulations and dealing with exploitation application procedures without regulations. It decided to form the single text of exploitation regulations this November, and evaluate and adjust the development of regulations in July in 2024 in order to publish them in 2025.
The Council continued the work of four informal working groups, finance, environment, inspection and compliance, and institutional matters, and its chairperson took charge of the negotiations on the remaining text. The Council’s member states and observers made comments on relevant topics and draft regulations, and exchanged views on payment models, equitable sharing of benefits, and compliance and inspection institutions. The facilitators of all working groups invited all parties to submit written comments before September 15, and decided to form multiple intersessional working groups to discuss undecided issues at the same time.
The Assembly discussed the synergies between the ISA and the BBNJ Agreement, OSPAR and other international agreements or organizations. It reviewed and agreed to establish an interim Director-General of the Enterprise, decided to list the regular review of seabed institutions in the next Assembly’s agenda, and extended ISA’s current 2019-2023 strategic plan for another 2 years, to develop a more comprehensive ISA’s 2024-2028 strategic plan.