SEC. 4.a DEFINITIONS. For purposes of this Act, the term- (A) any activity engaged in at sea to recover any hard mineral resource at a substantial rate for the primary purpose of marketing or commercially using such resource to earn a net profit, whether or not such net profit is actually earned; (B) if such recovered hard mineral resource will be processed at sea, such processing; and (C) if the waste of such activity to recover any hard mineral resource, or of such processing at sea, will be disposed of at sea, such disposal; (2) "Continental Shelf" means— (A) the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast, but outside the area of the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 meters or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the natural resources of such submarine area; and (B) the selected and subsoil of similar submarine areas adjacent to the coast of islands; (3) "controlling interest", for purposes of paragraph 14(C) of this section, means a director or indirect legal or beneficial interest in or influence over another person arising through ownership of capital stock, interlocking directorates or officers, contractual relations, or other similar means, which substantially affect the independent business behavior of such person; (4) "deep seabed" means the seabed, and the subsoil thereof to a depth of ten meters, lying seaward of and outside (A) the Continental Shelf of any nation; and (B) any area of national resource jurisdiction of any foreign nation, if such area extends beyond the Continental Shelf of such nation and such jurisdiction is recognized by the United States; (5) "exploration" means (A) any at-sea observation and evaluation activity which has, as its objective, the establishment and documentation of (i) the nature, shape, concentration, location, and tenor of a hard mineral resource; and (ii) the environmental, technical, and other appropriate factors which must be taken into account to achieve commercial recovery; and (B) the taking from the deep seabed of such quantities of any hard mineral resource as are necessary for the design, fabrication, and testing of equipment which is intended to be used in the commercial recovery and processing of such resource; (6) "hard mineral resource" means any deposit or accretion on, or just below, the surface of the deep seabed of nodules. +30 U.S.C. 1403. which include one or more minerals at least one of which contains, manganese, nickel, cobalt, or copper; (7) "international agreement" means a comprehensive agreement concluded through negotiations at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, relating to (among other matters) the exploration for and commercial recovery of hard mineral resources and the establishment of an international regime for the regulation thereof; (8) "licensee" means the holder of a license issued under title I of this Act to engage in exploration; (9) "permittee" means the holder of a permit issued under title I of this Act to engage in commercial recovery; (10) "person" means any United States citizen, any individual, and any other corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, or other entity organized or existing under the laws of any nation; (11) "reciprocating state" means any foreign nation designated as such by the Administration under section 118; (12) "Administrator" means the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; (13) "United States" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and any other Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and (14) "United States citizen" means— (A) any individual who is a citizen of the United States; (B) any corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, or other entity organized or existing under the laws of any of the United States; and (C) any corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, or other entity (whether organized or existing under the laws of any of the United States or a foreign nation) if the controlling interest in such entity is held by an individual or entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B). TITLE I-REGULATION OF EXPLORATION AND COMMERCIAL RECOVERY BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS SEC. 101.5 PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS. (a) PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND EXCEPTIONS.—(1) No United States citizen may engage in any exploration or commercial recovery unless authorized to do so under (A) a license or a permit issued under this title; (B) a license, permit, or equivalent authorization issued by a reciprocating state; or (C) an international agreement which is in force with respect to the United States. (2) The prohibitions of this subsection shall not apply to any of the following activities: (A) Scientific research, including that concerning hard mineral resources. 5 30 U.S.C. 1411. (B) Mapping, or the taking of any geophysical, geochemical, oceanographic, or atmospheric measurements or random bottom samplings of the deep seabed, if such taking does not significantly alter the surface or subsurface of the deep seabed or significantly affect the environment. (C) The design, construction, or testing of equipment and facilities which will or may be used for exploration or commercial recovery, if such design, construction, or testing is conducted on shore, or does not involve the recovery of any incidental hard mineral resources. (D) The furnishing of machinery, products, supplies, services, or materials for any exploration or commercial recovery conducted under a license or permit issued under this title, a license or permit or equivalent authorization issued by a reciprocating state, or under an international agreement. (E) Activities, other than exploration or commercial recovery activities, of the Federal Government. (b) EXISTING EXPLORATION.-(1) Subsection (a)(1)(A) shall not be deemed to prohibit any United States citizen who is engaged in exploration before the effective date of this Act from continuing to engage in such exploration (A) if such citizen applies for a license under section 103(a) with respect to such exploration within such reasonable period of time, after the date on which initial regulations to implement section 103(a) are issued, as the Administrator shall prescribe; and (B) until such license is issued to such citizen or a final administrative or judicial determination is made affirming the denial of certification of the application for, or issuance of, such license. (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the President by Executive order determines that immediate suspension of exploration activities is necessary for the reasons set forth in section 106(a)(2)(B) or the Administrator determines that immediate suspension of activities is necessary to prevent a significant adverse effect on the environment or to preserve the safety of life and property at sea, the Administrator is authorized, notwithstanding any other requirement of this Act, to issue an emergency order requiring any United States citizen who is engaged in exploration before the effective date of this Act to immediately suspend exploration activities. The issuance of such emergency order is subject to judicial review as provided in chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code. (3) The timely filing of any application for a license under paragraph (1)(A) shall entitle the applicant to priority of right for the issuance of such license under section 103(b). In any case in which more than one application referred to in paragraph (1) is filed based on exploration plans required by section 103(a)(2) which refer to all or part of the same deep seabed area, the Administrator shall, in taking action on such applications, apply principles of equity which take into consideration, among other things, the date on which the applicants or predecessors in interest, or component organizations thereof, commenced exploration activities and the continuity and extent of such exploration and amount of funds expended with respect to such exploration. (c) INTERFERENCE.-No United States citizen may interfere or participate in interference with any activity conducted by any licensee or permittee which is authorized to be undertaken under a license or permit issued by the United States to the licensee or permittee under this Act or with any activity conducted by the holder of, and authorized to be undertaken under, a license or permit or equivalent authorization issued by a reciprocating state for the exploration or commercial recovery of hard mineral resources. United States citizens shall exercise their rights on the high seas with reasonable regard for the interests of other states in their exercise of the freedoms of the high seas. SEC. 102.6 LICENSES FOR EXPLORATION AND PERMITS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY. (a) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE.-Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Administrator shall issue to applicants who are eligible therefor licenses for exploration and permits for commercial recovery. (b) NATURE OF LICENSES AND PERMITS.-(1) A license or permit issued under this title shall authorize the holder thereof to engage in exploration or commercial recovery, as the case may be, consistent with the provisions of this Act, the regulations issued by the Administrator to implement the provisions of this Act, and the specific terms, conditions, and restrictions applied to the license or permit by the Administrator. (2) Any license or permit issued under this title shall be exclusive with respect to the holder thereof as against any other United States legal entity organized or existing under the laws of, any reciprocating state. (3) A valid existing license shall entitle the holder, if otherwise eligible under the provisions of this Act and regulations issued under this Act, to a permit for commercial recovery. Such a permit recognizes the right of the holder to recover hard mineral resources, and to own, transport, use, and sell hard mineral resources recovered, under the permit and in accordance with the requirements of this Act. (4) In the event of interference with the exploration or commercial recovery activities of a licensee or permittee by nationals of other states, the Secretary of State shall use all peaceful means to resolve the controversy by negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, or resort to agreed tribunals. (c) RESTRICTIONS.-(1) The Administrator may not issue (A) any license or permit after the date on which an international agreement is ratified by and enters into force with respect to the United States, except to the extent that issuance of such license or permit is not inconsistent with such agreement; (B) any license or permit the exploration plan or recovery plan of which, submitted pursuant to section 103(a)(2), would apply to an area to which applies, or would conflict with, (i) any exploration plan or recovery plan submitted with any pending application to which priority of right for issuance applies under section 103(b), (ii) any exploration plan or recovery 630 U.S.C. 1412. plan associated with any existing license or permit, or (iii) any equivalent authorization which has been issued, or for which formal notice of application has been submitted, by a reciprocating state prior to the filing date of any relevant application for licenses or permits pursuant to this title; (C) a permit authorizing commercial recovery within any area of the deep seabed in which exploration is authorized under a valid existing license if such permit is issued to other than the licensee for such area; (D) any exploration license before July 1, 1981, or any permit which authorizes commercial recovery to commence before January 1, 1983; (E) any license or permit the exploration plan or recovery plan for which applies to any area of the deep seabed if, within the 3-year period before the date of application for such license or permit, (i) the applicant therefor surrendered or relinquished such area under an exploration plan or recovery plan associated with a previous license or permit issued to such applicant, or (ii) a license or permit previously issued to the applicant had an exploration plan or recovery plan which applied to such area and such license or permit was revoked under section 106; or (F) a license or permit, or approve the transfer of a license or permit, except to a United States citizen. (2) No permittee may use any vessel for the commercial recovery of hard mineral resources or for the processing at sea at hard mineral resources recovered under the permit issued to the permittee unless the vessel is documented under the laws of the United States. (3) Each permittee shall use at least one vessel documented under the laws of the United States for the transportation from each mining site of hard mineral resources recovered under the permit issued to the permittee. (4) For purposes of the shipping laws of the United States, any vessel documented under the laws of the United States and used in the commercial recovery, processing, or transportation from any mining site of hard mineral resources recovered under a permit issued under this title shall be deemed to be used in, and used in an essential service in, the foreign commerce of foreign trade of the United States, as defined in section 905(a) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, and shall be deemed to be a vessel as defined in section 1101(b) of that Act. (5) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the processing on land of hard mineral resources recovered pursuant to a permit shall be conducted within the United States; Provided, That the President does not determine that such restrictions contravene the overriding national interests of the United States. The Administrator may allow the processing of hard mineral resources at a place other than within the United States if he finds, after opportunity for an agency hearing, that (A) the processing of the quantity concerned of such resource at a place other than within the United States is necessary for the economic viability of the commercial recovery activities of a permittee; and |