Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is one of the four main elements of the package being negotiated in the Intergovernmental Conference to develop an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ agreement). “Internationalization” of EIA under the agreement, which partly relates to the international community's role in oversight and outcome of the process, remains a contentious issue that requires continued consideration. Less controversial aspects of internationalization in the EIA process are internationalization of consultation and dissemination of information. They are shown to be critical to achieving quality outcomes and encouraging transparency and accountability. This paper addresses a third dimension of internationalization, relating to review and decision-making, which is proving to be the most divisive in the negotiations to date. This aspect of internationalization is fundamental to allowing decisions taken on proposed activities to be seen as legitimate but concerns exist about the bureaucracy and costs that the process may entail, as well as potential interference with sovereign rights of States Parties under UNCLOS. This paper advances a proposal for internationalization of review and decision-making under the BBNJ agreement that attempts to bridge the divide evident going into the 4th session of the Inter-governmental Conference in 2021.

政府间会议正在谈判一揽子计划中的四个主要内容之一，即环境影响评估（EIA），以根据《联合国海洋法公约》（UNCLOS）制定一项关于保护和可持续利用海洋生物的具有法律约束力的国际文书。国家管辖范围以外区域的海洋生物多样性（BBNJ协议）。根据该协议，EIA的“国际化”部分涉及国际社会在监督和过程结果中的作用，仍然是一个有争议的问题，需要继续予以考虑。在环评过程中，国际化争议较小的方面是咨询和信息传播的国际化。事实证明，它们对于实现高质量成果以及鼓励透明度和问责制至关重要。本文讨论了与审查和决策有关的国际化的第三个方面，事实证明，这是迄今为止谈判中最分裂的。这方面的国际化对于使对拟议活动作出的决定被视为合法是至关重要的，但人们对该程序可能带来的官僚主义和成本以及对《海洋法公约》所规定的缔约国主权的潜在干扰表示关注。本文提出了根据BBNJ协议进行审查和决策国际化的提案，该提案试图弥合分歧，这显然将进入2021年政府间会议的第四届会议。