§1428 Reciprocating states

Summary

The Administrator, after talking with the Secretary of State and other agency leaders, can name a foreign country a "reciprocating state" if the Secretary of State finds it meets four rules. The country must control its people doing deep-sea mineral exploration and mining in ways like our law, including protecting the environment, conserving resources, keeping people and ships safe, and enforcing the rules. It must accept U.S. licenses and stop activity that would conflict with those licenses, and follow the dates for issuing licenses and the effective date for permits in section 1412(c)(1)(D). It must respect the same priority rules for license and permit applications that we use. And it must have a temporary legal system for exploration and recovery that does not unreasonably interfere with other nations’ freedoms on the high seas. If a country is a reciprocating state, the U.S. will not issue any license or permit that would conflict with that country’s authorization. When the U.S. gets an application, the Administrator must notify all reciprocating states right away and share the relevant parts of the exploration or recovery plan, except for information protected under section 1423(c). The Administrator, with the Secretary of State, must remove a country’s reciprocating status if it no longer meets the rules, but may recognize certain foreign licenses issued while the country was a reciprocating state if asked. The President may make agreements with foreign nations to carry out these rules. The Administrator must also talk with countries that are making similar temporary laws, help them become reciprocating states, and provide environmental information and technical help if requested.