Journal of Research and Development in Comparative Law

Journal of Research and Development in Comparative Law

A Comparative Study of the Commercial Aspects of Mining Activities in Iranian and French Law

Articles in Press

Document Type : scientific research paper

Author
saeed johar
Graduated with a doctorate in private law
10.22034/law.2025.2057437.1636
Abstract
One of the industries that plays an important role in the economy of countries is mining activities. According to Article 1, Clause 1 of the Executive Regulations of the Iranian Mining Law approved in 1390 with amendments on 04/04/1396: “Mining activities include prospecting operations to find deposits and explore and extract mines and ore dressing and mineral processing and extractive metallurgy.” Therefore, prospecting, exploration, extraction, ore dressing, processing and metallurgy are recognized as six types of mining activities. However, which of these six activities are commercial? In Article 2 of the Iranian Commercial Law approved in 1311 and the Iranian Mining Law and the regulations of this law, none of the mining activities is explicitly mentioned as commercial activities, and this creates the impression that none of these mining activities may be commercial. The French Commercial Law is also silent on this matter, but the French Mining Law has specified the duties of commercial mining activities. According to Article 131-3 of the French Mining Code: “Mining exploitation is considered a commercial act.” The subject of this article is to answer the question, using a comparative-analytical method and library study, which of the mining activities in Iranian and French law are commercial? In addition, it is based on the assumption that, given the role of mines in the circulation of wealth and capital, this activity can be considered commercial. After examining the types of mining activities in Iranian law and stating the criteria for commerciality, it is concluded that in Iranian law, based on paragraphs one and four of Article 2 of the Commercial Code 1311, the extraction of mineral substances and exploitation can be considered intrinsic commercial operations. Because mineral substances are movable assets that are obtained from nature and are then processed in a factory and converted into raw materials for consumption by other industries.
Keywords
Mining activities
Commercial activity
Commercialization
Exploitation
Extraction

Subjects

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Journal of Research and Development in Comparative Law

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 24 November 2025