Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if she will undertake a review of the (a) scope and (b) objectives of the proposed International Seabed Authority Mining Code to ensure that that code includes a process for (i) protecting biodiversity, (ii) assessing the potential effects of mining on the environment and (iii) avoiding those effects that is (A) is able to take into account independent scientific advice, (B) includes stakeholder consultation, (C) allows for the rejection of mining proposals where the potential effects of those proposals are too great or uncertain and (D) provides for the potential closure of large, ecologically important areas of the deep sea to mineral extraction.

The draft Regulations for the exploitation phase of deep sea mining are being negotiated at the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The UK will continue to call for transparent, science-based and environmentally sound regulation of seabed mining by the ISA to ensure effective protection of deep sea habitats and biodiversity. We will use our position in the Council and Assembly of the ISA to secure the adoption of a mining code that provides for robust and accountable oversight of mining activity. This includes enshrining the precautionary principle and an ecosystem approach in the mining code; ensuring that in addition to the core regulations, effective and binding standards and guidelines to ensure environmentally sound mining have been adopted before exploitation licences are granted, and that these reflect the different specific environmental and other features of the different mineral deposits; ensuring that Regional Environmental Management Plans (REMPs) with robust environmental objectives are established before exploitation licences can be granted and that there is a clear regulatory link between the REMPs and exploitation licences; ensuring transparency in the implementation of the Regulations; reinforcing the importance of consultation and expert input both in the development of the Regulations, Standards and Guidelines and in the consideration of any future applications; allowing for the suspension of mining activities when operators fail to adhere to environmental safeguards or where new evidence of risk of serious harm arises.