The Unfinished Rules Governing a Multi-Trillion Dollar Ocean Resource Race

The International Seabed Authority has been negotiating a Mining Code for commercial deep-sea mining since the 1990s. As of 2026, that code remains unfinished — and the governance debates around it have become one of the defining battles in international environmental law.

What the Mining Code Is

The Mining Code is the package of rules, regulations, and procedures that would govern commercial exploitation of the international seabed. It covers:

• Application procedures for exploitation contracts
• Environmental impact assessment requirements
• Royalty and benefit-sharing arrangements (the "common heritage of mankind" principle)
• Monitoring, reporting, and inspection obligations
• Liability and compensation mechanisms for environmental damage
• Emergency response procedures

Exploration is already regulated — the ISA has issued over 30 exploration contracts since 2001. But exploration permits allow only data collection and small-scale testing, not commercial extraction. The exploitation regulations needed for commercial mining have never been finalised.

The Two-Year Rule and the Trigger

In 2021, Nauru — a small Pacific island nation with a sponsorship relationship with Canadian company The Metals Company — invoked the "two-year rule" under UNCLOS Article 162. This provision requires the ISA Council to complete work on the rules, regulations, and procedures for exploitation within two years of receiving a formal request from a sponsored contractor.

The deadline passed in June 2023 without a completed code. Under the interpretation favoured by Nauru and The Metals Company, this means exploitation applications must now be considered even in the absence of finalised regulations.

Most ISA member states, along with the majority of marine scientists and environmental organisations, dispute this interpretation. The debate has exposed deep divisions within the ISA membership between states that want to move quickly to enable mining and those — including France, Germany, New Zealand, and Costa Rica — that have called for a moratorium or precautionary pause.

The Moratorium Campaign

By 2026, more than 25 countries had officially called for a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, representing over 100 organisations, has documented the scientific consensus position: the environmental impact of commercial-scale deep-sea mining is not adequately understood, and existing data are insufficient to set meaningful environmental limits.

What a Final Code Would Need to Address

Sediment plume standards. At what concentration of suspended sediment does discharge become legally prohibited? The answer requires baseline data that does not yet exist for most proposed mining areas.

Reference zone requirements. The ISA framework requires "reference zones" — unfished control areas adjacent to mining sites used to measure environmental change. But the size, location, and monitoring requirements for these zones remain undefined.

Species protection. The ISA's environmental management plan for the CCZ identifies nine Areas of Particular Environmental Interest (APEIs) set aside from mining. Critics argue these areas are too small and poorly sited.

Liability. If a sediment plume damages fisheries in a neighbouring country's EEZ, who is liable? The current draft regulations contain no clear liability mechanism.

Independent science. The ISA's regulatory body includes member states with direct commercial interests in deep-sea mining contracts. There is no independent scientific panel with binding authority over environmental standards.

The Governance Stakes

The deep-sea mining governance debate is a test case for international environmental law. The outcomes will determine whether international law can adequately govern industrial activity in the global commons.

Abyssal Claims maps every active ISA exploration contract alongside the environmental data that should inform regulation. The Mining Concessions layer shows all contracts by resource type, contractor, and status. The Protected Areas (APEIs) layer shows the current ISA conservation set-asides — enabling direct visual assessment of whether the protected zones are adequately sited relative to the areas under commercial pressure.