§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Lord Privy Seal which countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have enacted legislation purporting to authorise their nationals or corporations within their jurisdiction to exploit mineral resources on the deep seabed.
§ Mr. Luce:The United States has enacted legislation to establish an interim procedure for regulating the exploration for and commercial recovery of hard mineral resources of the deep seabed pending the entry into force of an acceptable law of the sea convention. No commercial recovery would take place before 1 January 1988. Similar legislation has been enacted by the Federal Republic of Germany.