On 24 April 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources”) directing the Administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to “expedite the process for reviewing and issuing seabed mineral exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits in areas beyond national jurisdiction under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act” (DSHMRA) (EO, sec 3(a)(i) (emphasis added)).
UNCLOS
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Piracy and Undersea Cables: An Overlooked Interpretation of UNCLOS?
Recent events in the Baltic Sea and other places have highlighted the importance of undersea cables and pipelines for the global economy, and indeed our daily life. Fibre optic cables are the arteries of the modern world, transmitting over 99% of intercontinental data. While electricity and gas pipelines have less global significance, they remain crucial to regional and local economies. This blog argues…
Christmas Day Cable Cuts in the Baltic Sea
In less than 14 months, submarine telecommunications cables connecting Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, and Sweden have been cut nine times in the Baltic Sea. In addition, an underwater electricity cable and a gas pipeline have been cut by a ship anchor. These damages occurred in three separate incidents all involving a foreign commercial ship dragging an anchor…
Coastal State Jurisdiction in the Territorial Sea and the Protection of People on Board Foreign-Flagged Vessels
Today—the 10th of December—is an important day for international law. First, on 10 December 1982, the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Among other things, the UNCLOS governs the innocent passage regime, which codifies and stabilises the delicate balance struck between the…
Navigation of Warships in the Taiwan Strait
For many years, the United States has been sending warships through the Taiwan Strait in a corridor it considers to be “international waters”. The transits, which are regularly announced by the US military, are intended to demonstrate US commitment to a “free and open Indo-Pacific” and to “upholding freedom…
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