♤ The seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction constitute the “Area”. The Convention provides that the Area and its resources are the “common heritage of mankind”.

♤ In this context, the Convention defines “resources” as “all solid, liquid or gaseous mineral resources in situ in the Area at or beneath the seabed, including polymetallic nodules.”

♤ No State can claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part of the Area or its resources, nor can any State or natural or juridical person appropriate any part thereof. On the contrary, all rights in the resources of the Area are vested in mankind as a whole.