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International Seabed Authority. 



8. I understand that you have transferred the Depart- 

 ment's Law of the Sea Office from the Office of Deputy Secretary 

 of State to the Bureau of Ocean, Environment and Scientific 

 Afairs, what was (were) the reason(s) for doing this? How do 

 you plan to organize the activities of the office within the 

 Bureau? 



A. D/LOS was transferred to OES as part of a decision 



by the Department of State to place responsibility for 



negotiating agreements in the functional bureaus rather than 



in special offices. OES is the oceans bureau in the Department 



of State. No final decision has been made on the organization 



of OES/LOS, but we anticipate that it will retain most of its 



existing structure, changed where appropriate to respond to 



the evolving requirements of the LOS negotiations. 



9. On page 5, you call the enterprise a "supranational 

 mining company". My understanding of the idea, "supranational," 

 is that governments have given up authority to a supranational 

 entity that then has power to do certain things. The European 

 Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is an example because it has 

 authority to tax coal and steel producers in the 9 members of 

 the European Communities. 



The Enterprise does not have power to tax, does it? 

 Isn't it true that the Enterprise is the operating arm of the 

 proposed Seabed Authority and that the Enterprise's activities 

 are to be governed by decisions of the Council and the Assembly 

 of the Authority? 



A. It is difficult to choose an appropriate adjective 



to describe the Enterprise' juridical status. "Supranational", 



meaning transcending national boundaries, authority or interests • 



seemed to me fairly close to the mark. 



