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ment of an international regime for the resources of the seabed. This 

 intensified effort has been matched by activities of the IOC to enable 

 it to serve as focal point for coordinating international marine science 

 activities, in cooperation with other international organizations, and 

 with U.S. participation. 



In 1969, the Seabed Committee established a Legal Subcommittee 

 and an Economic and Technical Subcommittee, which met several 

 times and reported their deliberations and findings to the Committee. 



LEGAL SUBCOMMITTEE 



The Legal Subcommittee was assigned the task of studying the 

 elaboration of legal principles and norms (as described in operative 

 paragraph 2(a) of resolution 246YA (XXIII) ) which would promote 

 international cooperation in the exploration and use of the seabed and 

 the ocean floor, and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national 

 jurisdiction and ensure the exploitation of resources for the benefit 

 of mankind, having regard to the economic and other requirements 

 which such a regime should satisfy in order to meet the interests of 

 humanity as a whole. It was also asked to examine the legal impli- 

 cations of all other questions mentioned in the terms of the resolution, 

 and the reports submitted by the Secretary General pursuant to reso- 

 lution 24673, C, & D (XXIII) and 2414 (XXIII) . 



The Subcommittee's deliberations centered around the drafting of a 

 declaration of principles, taking into consideration principles of the 

 Antarctic Treaty, and the concept of "common heritage of mankind." 

 The delegations argued these points at length, but owing to the insuffi- 

 ciency of time the Subcommittee decided to postpone consideration of 

 other items until future sessions. 



ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL SUBCOMMITTEE 



The Economic and Technical Subcommittee was asked to consider 

 the following topics : 



1. Economic and technical requirements which such a regime 

 as is referred to in operative paragraph 2(a) of resolution 2467 A 

 (XXIII) should satisfy in order to meet the interest of humanity 

 as a whole. 



2. Operative paragraph 2(b) of the resolution — ^to study the 

 ways and means of promoting the exploitation and use of the 

 resources of this area, and of international cooperation to that 

 end, taking into account the foreseeable development of tech- 

 nology and the economic implications of such exploitation should 

 benefit mankind as a whole. 



3. Economic and technical implications of — 



(a) all other questions mentioned in the terms of reference 

 of the Committee as contained in resolution 2467A( XXIII) ; 

 and 



(5) the reports submitted by the Secretary General pur- 

 suant to resolutions 2467B,C,&D (XXIII) and 2414 (XXIII) . 

 The Subcommittee found that little change had taken place in tech- 

 nological development since the submission of the report on the 

 Resources of the Sea particularly in the mining techniques. Explora- 



