On March 3, 2025, the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) of the International Seabed Authority (the Authority) officially opened its meetings under Part I of its thirtieth session, which is taking place until March 14, 2025, in Kingston, Jamaica.

The LTC re-elected Mr. Erasmo Lara Cabrera of Mexico as Chair and Ms. Sissel Eriksen of Norway as Vice-Chair for this session.

During 10 days of meetings, the LTC will review all relevant items on its agenda with a focus on finalizing work related to the production of a standardized procedure for the development, approval, and review of Regional Environmental Management Plans.

The LTC will also review two environmental impact statements relating to the testing of mining equipment and components submitted in October 2024 by Beijing Pioneer Hi-Tech Development Corporation Ltd. and China Minmetals Corporation, respectively.

Finally, the LTC will take note of the progress made in the draft report prepared by its intersessional working group on the development of binding environmental threshold values. The report describes approaches considered for the development of threshold values related to toxicity, turbidity, and settling of resuspended sediments and underwater noise and light pollution. It also proposes key recommendations for further development and review of threshold values and future research priorities. After reviewing the main conclusions of the report and pending issues, the LTC is expected to agree on the next steps and timeline for stakeholder consultation.