94 STAT. 998
PUBLIC LAW 96-320—AUG. 3, 1980 TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
42 USC 9161.
SEC. 401. EFFECT OF LAW OF THE SEA TREATY.
If the United States ratifies a treaty, which includes provisions with respect to jurisdiction over ocean thermal energy conversion activities, resulting from any United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, the Administrator, after consultation with the Secretary of State, shall promulgate any amendment to the regulations promulgated under this Act which is necessary and appropriate to conform such regulations to the provisions of such treaty, in anticipation of the date when such treaty shall come into force and effect for, or otherwise be applicable to, the United States. 42 USC 9162.
SEC. 402. INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS.
The Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Administrator and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, shall seek effective international action and cooperation in support of the policy and purposes of this Act and may initiate and conduct negotiations for the purpose of entering into international agreements designed to guarantee noninterference of ocean thermal energy conversion facilities and plantships with the thermal gradients used by other such facilities and plantships, to assure protection of such facilities and plantships and of navigational safety in the vicinity thereof, and to resolve such other matters relating to ocean thermal energy conversion facilities and plantships as need to be resolved in international agreements. 42 USC 9163.
Enforcement.
SEC. 403. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.
(a)(1) The Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States shall apply to an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship licensed under this Act and to activities connected, associated, or potentially interfering with the use or operation of any such facility or plantship, in the same manner as if such facility or plantship were an area of exclusive Federal jurisdiction located within a State. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to relieve, exempt, or immunize any person from any other requirement imposed by Federal law, regulation, or treaty. (2) Ocean thermal energy conversion facilities and plantships licensed under this Act do not possess the status of islands and have no territorial seas of their own. (b)(1) Except as may otherwise be provided by this Act, nothing in this Act shall in any way alter the responsibilities and authorities of a State or the United States within the territorial seas of the United States. (2) The law of the nearest adjacent coastal State to which an ocean thermal energy conversion facility located beyond the territorial sea and licensed under this Act is connected by electric transmission cable or pipeline, now in effect or hereafter adopted, amended, or repealed, is declared to be the law of the United States, and shall apply to such facility, to the extent applicable and not inconsistent with any provision or regulation under this Act or other Federal laws and regulations now in effect or hereafter adopted, amended, or repealed: Provided, however, That the application of State taxation laws is not extended hereby outside the seaward boundary of any State. All such applicable laws shall be administered and enforced by the appropriate officers and courts of the United States outside the seaward boundary of any State.
�
