Title 30 — Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73

§1402 International objectives

Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 26— - DEEP SEABED HARD MINERAL RESOURCES › § 1402

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States can apply its laws to American citizens and ships, and to foreign people and ships it has authority over, when they explore or commercially mine hard minerals on the deep ocean floor in the high seas. The United States does not claim ownership, sovereignty, or exclusive control over the deep seabed or its resources. The Secretary of State should work to make a broad Law of the Sea treaty that gives every country fair access to deep-seabed minerals, says those resources belong to all people, and requires environmental protections at least as strong as those in this chapter. Until that treaty is reached, the Secretary should push for international steps to protect the ocean from harm caused by mining done by people not covered by this chapter.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §1402

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)By the enactment of this chapter, the United States—

(1)exercises its jurisdiction over United States citizens and vessels, and foreign persons and vessels otherwise subject to its jurisdiction, in the exercise of the high seas freedom to engage in exploration for, and commercial recovery of, hard mineral resources of the deep seabed in accordance with generally accepted principles of international law recognized by the United States; but

(2)does not thereby assert sovereignty or sovereign or exclusive rights or jurisdiction over, or the ownership of, any areas or resources in the deep seabed.

(b)(1)The Secretary of State is encouraged to negotiate successfully a comprehensive Law of the Sea Treaty which, among other things, provides assured and nondiscriminatory access to the hard mineral resources of the deep seabed for all nations, gives legal definition to the principle that the resources of the deep seabed are the common heritage of mankind, and provides for the establishment of requirements for the protection of the quality of the environment as stringent as those promulgated pursuant to this chapter.

(2)Until such a Treaty is concluded, the Secretary of State is encouraged to promote any international actions necessary to adequately protect the environment from adverse impacts which may result from any exploration for and commercial recovery of hard mineral resources of the deep seabed carried out by persons not subject to this chapter.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 1402

Title 30 — Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73