133 



A. In the general nomenclature, a comprehensive treaty 

 refers to treaty negotiated in the Third United Nations 

 Conference on the Law of the Sea, covering the entire spec- 

 trum of LOS interests. A mini-treaty is usually thought of 

 as limited to a particular subject such as seabed mining. 

 It would be negotiated among a smaller group of countries 

 than participate in UNCLOS III, but would be open to accession 

 by any country that wished to become a party. 



6. Does the United States support a parallel system for 

 mining nodules in the deep seabed? 



A. This is one of the questions that will be decided 



as a result of our policy review. At present we do not have 



a position. 



7. I understand that foreign delegates — our allies as 

 well as friends in the third world — may be willing to 

 tolerate minor changes in some parts of the text, but are 

 apprehensive and very concerned about major changes. What 

 would a major change be? A minor change? 



A. Whether a particular amendment is major or minor is 



always a subjective judgment. However, one might consider 



that a major change would be the elimination of the provisions 



relating to the production limitation or technology transfer 



including the Brazil Clause. A minor change would be an 



amendment to the voting formula which would guarantee the 



U.S. the same representation as the USSR, or clarifying the 



language to assure text that liberation movements such, as 



the PLO, will not obtain a share of the revenues of the 



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