A/RES/70/235 Oceans and the law of the sea VI Effective functioning of the Authority and the Tribunal 63. Commends the progress in the work of the Authority; 64. Also commends the work of the Tribunal since its establishment; 65. Appeals to all States Parties to the Convention to pay their assessed contributions to the Authority and to the Tribunal in full and on time, an d also appeals to States Parties in arrears with their contributions to fulfil their obligations without delay; 66. Encourages the Authority to continue to explore ways to manage the workload resulting from the increasing number of contracts and applicati ons, and notes the decision of the Council of the Authority at its twenty -first session, in which it requested the Secretary-General of the Authority to ensure that adequate time and resources continue to be made available to support the work of the Legal and Technical Commission, especially on priority issues; 30 67. Notes the decision of the Assembly at its twenty-first session, in which it strongly encouraged contractors that were still considering their position in relation to the annual overhead charge established by the Assembly at its nineteenth session, related to the administration and supervision of their contracts, to accept the relevant amendments to the standard terms of their contracts in order to ensure equitable burden-sharing among all contractors, 37 and in this regard recognizes that a number of contractors have already accepted the annual overhead charge; 38 68. Expresses concern about the low attendance at the annual sessions of the Assembly of the Authority, noting also the concerns expressed with regard to the scheduling of annual sessions of the Authority and taking into consideration the great strides made by the Authority in adopting regulations for the prospecting and exploration of minerals in the Area, and invites the Authority to consider measures to improve the attendance at its annual sessions, including the holding of the sessions at an earlier time; 69. Recognizes the ongoing efforts of the Authority to organize sensitization seminars to promote awareness of its work and notes, in this regard, the holding of the ninth sensitization seminar on the exploration and exploitation of deep seabed mineral resources in the Area, in Pretoria from 17 to 19 March 2015, welcomes the call to include landlocked and other geographically disadvantaged countries in the seminars, and calls upon other States and regions to consider inviting the Authority to organize such seminars in order to promote wider participation by the international community in the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources in the Area; 70. Calls upon States that have not done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the Tribunal 39 and to the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Authority; 40 _______________ 37 See ISBA/21/A/10, para. 5. See ISBA/21/FC/4/Rev.2. 39 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2167, No. 37925. 40 Ibid., vol. 2214, No. 39357. 38 16/53