International Seabed Authority (ISA)

The ISA is an autonomous international organization established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982 and the 1994 Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the UNCLOS. It came into existence on 16 Nov. 1994 and became fully operational in June 1996.

The administrative expenses are met from assessed contributions from its members. Membership numbered 168 in Feb. 2018; the budget for the biennium 2015–16 was US$15,743,143.

The UNCLOS covers almost all ocean space and its uses: navigation and overflight, resource exploration and exploitation, conservation and pollution, fishing and shipping. It entitles coastal states and inhabitable islands to proclaim a 12-mile territorial sea, a contiguous zone, a 200-mile exclusive economic zone and an extended continental shelf (in some cases). Its 320 Articles and nine Annexes constitute a guide for behaviour by states in the world’s oceans, defining maritime zones, laying down rules for drawing sea boundaries,...