Table of Contents
Nationality
Applicants only obtain a certificate of sponsorship from the Belgian state if they are Belgian nationals or are under the supervision of the Belgian state. This is in line with the provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 and the Agreement on the implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 28 July 1994.
Applicants who hold more than one nationality, as in the case of a partnership or consortium of entities or persons from more than one state, must obtain a certificate of sponsorship from each state involved.
Financial and technical capacity of the applicant
Applicants must submit information which should allow to verify whether they have the necessary resources to carry out the activities foreseen in their plan of work and to comply immediately with the management measures of the Secretary-General of the Authority and the emergency orders of the Council of the Authority.
Content of the application file
The application file consists of a petition and appendices.
The application contains:
- the name, first name, occupation, place of residence and nationality of the applicant;
- in the case of a company: the company name or trade name and the company number, and, to the extent that they are not published in Belgian’s Official Gazette, the documents supporting the proxies of the signatories of the application;
- a general note with the object and the description of the project;
- the application for approval of a plan of work for exploration or exploitation for obtaining a contract;
- the appendices to the application mentioned under point 4, including in particular the documents on the financial and technical capacity of the applicant, a thorough environmental impact study on the activities provided for in the plan of work and the commitments required in article 8, § 4 of the Law of 17 August 2013 concerning the prospection, exploration and exploitation of the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (only available in French or Dutch).
Since the documents mentioned in points 4 and 5 are forwarded to the International Seabed Authority, they are drawn up in French or English, by derogation on the Belgian law concerning language use in administrative affairs.
More information about the application procedure can be found in chapter 3 of the Royal Decree of 4 October 2013 on the prospection, exploration and exploitation of the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (only available in French or Dutch).