J or 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
Washington, O0.C. 20520 
March 1, 1973 
Honorable Henry M. Jackson 
Chairman, Committee on Interior and 
Insular Affairs 
United States Senate 
Washington, D.C. 20510 
Dear Mr. Chairman: 
In a letter to you on May 19, 1972, the Chairman of 
the Inter-Agency Law of the Sea Task Force indicated that 
the Executive Branch was not prepared at that time to 
state a position on S.2801, the "Deep Seabed Hard Mineral 
Resources Act". A bill identical to S.2801 has been re- 
introduced in this session of the Congress as H.R. 9. 
In his May 19th letter, the Chairman of the Task Force 
noted the connection of the bill with the Law of the Sea 
preparatory negotiations in the United Nations Seabed 
Committee, and said that we would report again on our 
views in the light of developments at the summer session 
of the Seabed Committee and the 27th United Nations General 
Assembly. This letter provides Executive Branch views on 
H.R. 9 supplemented by an appendix on the bill's mineral 
resource and technical aspects and their relationship to 
the negotiations. 
By far the most important development at the 27th Gen- 
eral Assembly regarding the Law of the Sea was the unanimous 
adoption of a Law of the Sea Conference Resolution. This 
resolution establishes a precise schedule for the Law of 
the Sea Conference.and preparatory negotiations. Prepara- 
tory work in the UN Seabed Committee will be intensified 
in 1973, with provision for a five week session beginning 
in early March in New York and an eight week session be- 
ginning in early July in Geneva. The Resolution provides 
for convening a brief organizational session of the Law 
of the Sea Conference in New York in November/December 
1973, and for convening a second session of the Conference, 
for the purpose of dealing with substantive matters, in 
Santiago, Chile in April/May 1974. There is also provision 
for such subsequent sessions of the Conference if neces- 
sary, as may be decided by the Conference with the approval 
