358-(54)

II SÉRIE-A — NÚMERO 23

graph in a manner which assures a uniform and nondiscriminatory implementation in respect of all production in the Area of the minerals concerned. In doing so, the Authority shall act in a manner consistent with

the terms of existing contracts and approved plans of work of the Enterprise.

2 — a) During the interim period specified in paragraph 3, commercial production shall not be undertaken pursuant to an approved plan of work until the operator has applied for and has been issued a production authorization by the Authority. Such production authorizations may not be applied for or issued more than five years prior to the planned commencement of commercial production under the plan of work unless, having regard to the nature and timing of project development, the rules, regulations and procedures of the Authority prescribe another period.

b) In the application for the production authorization, the operator shall specify the annual quantity of nickel expected to be recovered under the approved plan of work. The application shall include a schedule of expenditures to be made by the operator after he has received the authorization which are reasonably calculated to allow him to begin commercial production on the date planned.

c) For the purposes of subparagraphs a) and b), the Authority shall establish appropriate performance requirements in accordance with annex in, article 17.

d) The Authority shall issue a production authorization for the level of production applied for unless the sum of that level and the levels already authorized exceeds the nickel production ceiling, as calculated pursuant to paragraph 4 in the year of issuance of the authorization, during any year of planned production falling within the interim period.

e) When issued, the production authorization and approved application shall become a part of the approved plan of work.

f) If the operator's application for a production authorization is denied pursuant to subparagraph d), the operator may apply again to the Authority at any time.

3 — The interim period shall begin five years prior to 1 January of the year in which the earliest commercial production is planned to commence under an approved plan of work. If the earliest commercial production is delayed beyond the year originally planned, the beginning of the interim period and the production ceiling originally calculated shall be adjusted accordingly. The interim period shall last 25 years or until the end of the Review Conference referred to in article 155 or until the day when such new arrangements or agreements as are referred to in paragraph 1 enter into force, whichever is earliest. The Authority shall resume the power provided in this article for the remainder of the interim period if the said arrangements or agreements should lapse or become ineffective for any reason whatsoever.

4 — a) The production ceiling for any year of the interim period shall be the sum of:

i) The difference between the trend line values for nickel consumption, as calculated pursuant to subparagraph b), for the year immediately prior to the year of the earliest commercial production and the year immediately prior to the commencement of the interim period; and

ii) Sixty per cent of the difference between the trend line values for nickel consumption, as cal-

culated pursuant to subparagraph b), for the year for which the production authorization is being applied for and the year immediately prior to the year of the earliest commercial production.

b) For the purposes of subparagraph a):

i) Trend line values used for computing the nickel production ceiling shall be those annual nickel consumption values on a trend line computed during the year in which a production authorization is issued. The trend line shall be derived from a linear regression of the logarithms of actual nickel consumption for the most recent 15-year period for which such data are available, time being the independent variable. This trend line shall be referred to as the original trend line;

ii) If the annual rate of increase of the original trend line is less than 3 per cent, then the trend line used to determine the quantities referred to in subparagraph a) shall instead be one passing through the original trend line at the value for the first year of the relevant 15-year period, and increasing at 3 per cent annually; provided however that the production ceiling established for any year of the interim period may not in any case exceed the diference between the original trend line value for that year and the original trend line value for the year immediately prior to the commencement of the interim period.

5 — The Authority shall reserve to the Enterprise for its initial production a quantity of 38,000 metric tonnes of nickel from the available production ceiling calculated pursuant to paragraph 4.

6—a) An operator may in any year produce less than or up to 8 per cent more than the level of annual production of minerals from polymetallic nodules specified in his production authorization, provided that the over-all amount of production shall not exceed that specified in the authorization. Any excess over 8 per cent and up to 20 per cent in any year, or any excess in the first and subsequent years following two consecutive years in which excesses occur, shall be negotiated with the Authority, which may require the operator to obtain a supplementary production authorization to cover additional production.

b) Applications for such supplementary production authorizations shall be considered by the Authority oniy after all pending applications by operators who have not yet received production authorizations have been acted upon and due account has been taken of other likely applicants. The Authority shall be guided by the principle of not exceeding the total production allowed under the production ceiling in any year of the interim period. It shall not authorize the production undei any plan of work of a quantity in excess of 46,500 metric tonnes of nickel per year.

7 — The levels of production of other metals such as copper, cobalt and manganese extracted from the polymetallic nodules that are recovered pursuant to a production authorization should not be higher than

those which would have been produced had the operator produced the maximum level of nickel from those nodules pursuant to this article. The Authority shall establish