Deep-Sea Mining Rules Stay Unfinished After ISA Talks

The International Seabed Authority ended its July Council session with a roadmap for more negotiations, not a completed rulebook for commercial deep-sea mining.

On July 24, delegates adopted an approach for continuing work on exploitation rules and invited written proposals and comments by October 1, 2026. The Council met from July 13 through July 24 during Part II of the Authority’s 31st session.

The decision keeps the Mining Code unfinished. It did not authorize a completed commercial-mining regime, leaving major questions about how activities in international seabed areas would be monitored, inspected, enforced and brought to a close.

What the July decision changed

The roadmap establishes the next procedural stage: governments and other participants can submit written proposals and comments before the October 1 deadline, ahead of further negotiations. The session documents identify draft and working materials covering exploitation regulations, compliance and enforcement, environmental management and monitoring, closure plans, environmental goals, inspection, liability-related mechanisms, benefit-sharing and other institutional and operational issues.

That list shows that negotiations are continuing across the regulatory system rather than addressing a single remaining technical detail. The Council’s action sets a path for more work, but it does not settle the substance of the rules.

What remains unresolved

Delegates also failed to reach consensus on the election mechanism for members of the Economic Planning Commission, an institutional body linked to the seabed governance system. The issue was deferred to a future session.

The Council agreed that its next scheduled meetings will be held from March 8-19, 2027, and July 12-23, 2027. In the meantime, the process will focus on written submissions, intersessional work and further drafting.

For companies and sponsoring states, the delay means the conditions for seeking approval in international seabed areas remain unsettled. For states and environmental groups concerned about ocean protection, safeguards, monitoring and enforcement provisions have not yet been finalized.

A separate legal dispute

The negotiations also unfolded against a legal dispute involving the Authority’s inquiry process. The Seabed Disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea delivered provisional-measures orders on July 18 in claims brought by Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. and Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd.

In a July 19 statement, the ISA said it had taken note of the orders and emphasized that they did not prejudice the Chamber’s jurisdiction over the merits or decide the underlying claims. The Authority also said its inquiry process under the Council’s July 21, 2025, decision remains in effect.

The provisional nature of the measures is important. They add legal uncertainty around the dispute, but they are not a final finding of wrongdoing or a final ruling on the claims.

Why jurisdiction matters

The ISA regulates mineral activities in the international seabed area, beyond national jurisdiction. Mining activity in waters under a country’s national jurisdiction follows a different legal framework.

That distinction matters as commercial and national pressure for seabed mining develops in parallel. Activity proposed or conducted under national authority cannot simply be treated as an ISA-approved project, and the July roadmap does not change that division.

The immediate next step is the October 1 written-proposal and comment deadline. The larger question is whether future negotiations can produce a complete and enforceable Mining Code covering environmental safeguards, inspections, compliance, closure, liability and benefit-sharing.

Sources

• International Seabed Authority — July 2026 Council session documents
• Earth Negotiations Bulletin — July 24 ISA Council report
• International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea — Nauru case docket