The first part of the 27th session of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) closed on 1 April 2022 after ten days of meetings held in Kingston, Jamaica. All 36 Members of the Council attended the session in person or virtually; other Members and 15 Observers were also in attendance.

The ISA Council meetings focused on the draft Regulations on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area.

The acting President of the 27th session of the Council, Ms. Michelle Walker (Jamaica), thanked the distinguished representatives for “their collaboration, flexibility and hard work” while closing the meetings.

The open-ended working group on the financial terms of contracts and the financial model and payment mechanism for deep-sea mining, chaired by Mr. Olav Myklebust (Norway), held its fourth in-person meeting on 21-22 March. The Chair will prepare a briefing note for consideration by the Council in July 2022.

The three informal working groups established by the Council in February 2021 held their first in-person meetings and discussed i) the protection and preservation of the marine environment, facilitated by Dr. Raijeli Taga (Fiji), ii) inspection, compliance and enforcement, facilitated by H.E. Dr. Maureen P. Tamuno (Nigeria) and iii) institutional matters, co-facilitated by H.E. Ms. Georgina Guillén Grillo (Costa Rica) and H.E. Ms. Constanza Figueroa Sepúlveda (Chile). The facilitators will receive textual proposals on relevant draft regulations and draft standards and guidelines in April 2022. They will prepare their respective texts for consideration by the Council during the second part of the meetings in July 2022.

During its meetings, the ISA Council adopted a decision on the application for the extension of an exploration contract submitted by the Government of India.

The Council also considered the report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Enterprise.

Finally, the Council discussed the mechanism for the election of members of the Legal and Technical Commission. It decided to establish an informal contact group convened by the President of the Council composed of representatives from each regional group to develop a mechanism for election to be adopted by silence procedure or at its meetings in July 2022.

According to the roadmap endorsed by the members of the Council, the 27th session of the ISA Council will be held in three parts. The second part of the 27th session of the Council will take place in July 2022.