On the Legal Status of Marine Genetic Resources in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

Abstract

The question of how to define the legal status of marine genetic resources (hereinafter MGRs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction (hereinafter ABNJ) is one of the important issues in the negotiation of the International Legally Binding Instrument under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction. According to the theory of the order and justice value of the law, in combining the experiences of the international community in handling global ocean problems and characteristics of MGRs in ABNJ, it can be said that MGRs in ABNJ have the legal attribute of being the common heritage of mankind (hereinafter CHM). From the perspective of the principle of CHM, in applying the subject, object and content elements of legal relations as the research approach, the legal status of MGRs in ABNJ should be defined as follows: Firstly, an international management body should be established and the scope of actual resource developers should be defined in terms of subject elements. Secondly, the temporal scope, geographical scope and material scope of MGRs in ABNJ should be clarified in terms of object elements. Thirdly, the disposition of rights and obligations in the process of development and utilization of MGRs in ABNJ should be defined in terms of content elements.