72 



widespread, support. It was suggested, however, that the wording proposed in 

 paragraph 10 should he harmonized with those specified in article 307. 



19- There; is general agreement that the life oi' the Preparatory Commission should 

 not he unduly long , having regard to the nature of its mandate and also of tV- 

 need for the Authority to be established expeditiously to perform functions 

 assigned by the Convention. The view was expressed by some, however, that if that 

 life must be extended beyond the convening of the Assembly, the latter, that 

 is the Assembly, alone must decide to grant it. 



20. The issue of the financing of the Preparatory Commission presented some 

 difficulties. It was clear that all sides would support that the United Nations 

 should provide the funds for the initial costs. Yet the terms found a divergency 

 of views. The concept of loan proposed by the late President's text was rejected 

 by those who saw fundamental legal as well as practical difficulties involved. . The 

 Group of 77 and the Eastern (Socialist) countries argued further that until the 

 Authority was established the United Nations regular budget should finance the 

 Commission in the same way as with the present Conference. Others pointed to the 

 fact that observers or Member States of the United Nations who are not signatories 

 of the Convention would be compelled to contribute to the financing. It is my 

 feeling that the second reading on this issue might, hopefully, be more fruitful. 



2.1. The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General introduced 

 two reports -that were relevant to the mandate, of the First Committee. They are ' 

 contained in documents A/CONF.62/L.65 and A/COWF.62/L.66 and deal respectively 

 with "potential financial implications for fitates Parties to the future Convention 

 on the Law of the Sea' 1 and "the effects of the production limitation formula under 

 certain specified assumptions". 



22. With regard to document A/CONF.62/L.66, the Committee decided to postpone 

 detailed discussion until the resumed session. During the discussion of this 

 report, some delegations proposed that a group of experts be established, which 

 could utilize the report of the Secretary-General as the bar.is for an evaluation 

 of the production limitation formula. Since there was no consensus with respect 

 to establishment of such a group, I suggested that I be authorized to hold 

 informal consultations with a view to reaching consensus on how to proceed. 



23. The report on the financial implication of the future Convention contained in 

 document A/CONF.62/L.65 offered a preliminary estimate of the cost involved in the 

 functioning of the following organs of the Authority. 



(a) The Authority - including the Assembly, Council, its Economic Planning 

 Commission and Legal and Technical Commission and the Secretariat. 



(b) The Enterprise - including Governing Board and the Secretariat. 



(c) The International Tribunal for the Lav; of the Sea - including the Sea- 

 Bed Disputes Chamber, Special Chambers, the Ad Hoc Chamber and the Office of the 

 Registrar. 



