Greenpeace Challenges Dutch Government Over Allseas Deep-Sea Mining Contract as Legal Opinion Cites UNCLOS Violations

Greenpeace Netherlands has commissioned a legal opinion from Professor André Nollkaemper of the University of Amsterdam concluding that plans by Swiss-Dutch offshore giant Allseas to operate deep-sea mining machinery for The Metals Company under unilateral US authorisation directly violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and has demanded immediate regulatory intervention by the Dutch government. The legal opinion finds that the binding May 2026 Contract for Development Work and Commercial Production between Allseas and TMC includes activities prohibited under international law, and that the Dutch state's obligation to intervene is already engaged.

 

Legal Basis of the Challenge

 

The Nollkaemper opinion centres on the status of the international seabed under UNCLOS, which grants sole regulatory jurisdiction to the International Seabed Authority and explicitly prohibits unilateral exploitation of seabed resources beyond national jurisdiction. The contract binding Allseas to TMC relies entirely on what the opinion describes as a unilateral United States route, bypassing the ISA framework through which commercial deep-sea mining exploitation is supposed to be authorised for all signatory states. Nollkaemper has characterised the threat as no longer a hypothetical prospect but a present and advancing fact, moving the legal question from theoretical compliance to active state obligation. The analysis establishes that the Netherlands, as a party to UNCLOS, carries direct obligations that are triggered by the commitment of a domestically significant company to operations that violate the treaty, regardless of whether those operations are sanctioned by a third country.

 

Allseas' Position and Strategic Significance

 

Allseas is described as the largest strategic shareholder and investor in The Metals Company alongside its role as the owner and operator of the world's only functional deep-sea mining vessel, which has been retrofitted specifically to extract polymetallic nodules from the abyssal ocean floor. The dual role of Allseas as both a major TMC investor and the sole available operational platform for the planned mining campaign gives the Dutch company a uniquely central position in the commercial deep-sea mining ecosystem, and means that Dutch government action against Allseas would have direct consequences for the viability of TMC's plans. This structural centrality is precisely why Greenpeace and the coalition of environmental organisations are directing their intervention demand toward the Netherlands specifically, since the Dutch government's regulatory authority over Allseas gives it leverage that most other governments do not hold over this particular operation.

 

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Coalition Demand and European Parliament Context

 

In response to the Nollkaemper legal assessment, Greenpeace Netherlands alongside five major environmental organisations has sent a letter to the Dutch government demanding immediate regulatory intervention to prevent Allseas from proceeding with the TMC contract. The coalition is also calling on the Netherlands to join the growing alliance of more than 40 nations advocating for an international moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining at the ISA level. A recent European Parliament resolution explicitly commands EU member states to respond with appropriate measures to any attempts to bypass the ISA and to take direct action against non-compliant domestic companies, providing a formal European institutional backing for the position that Greenpeace and its coalition partners are advancing. The combination of the Nollkaemper legal opinion, the coalition letter, and the European Parliament resolution creates a multi-layered pressure campaign directed at Dutch government decision-makers who must balance treaty obligations, domestic corporate interests, and European institutional directives simultaneously.

 

Wider Implications for Deep-Sea Mining Governance

 

The Allseas and TMC situation illustrates the governance crisis that the US decision to advance unilateral deep-sea mining authorisation has created for the international treaty system. When a company from an UNCLOS signatory state enters a binding commercial contract predicated on authorisation from a non-ISA route, the question of which state bears responsibility for ensuring treaty compliance becomes immediately practical rather than theoretical. The Nollkaemper opinion's conclusion that Dutch obligations are already engaged sets a legal precedent framework that environmental organisations and government legal advisers in other UNCLOS signatory states will be watching closely, since similar questions could arise in any jurisdiction where companies are investors in or operational partners to TMC or other entities pursuing the US unilateral route. The outcome of the Dutch government's response, and any subsequent legal proceedings, is likely to shape how the international community addresses the growing divergence between US deep-sea mining policy and the UNCLOS framework that governs the global commons.