The Case concerning maritime delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v Ukraine) [2009] ICJ 3 was a decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On September 16, 2004, Romania brought its case to the court after unsuccessful bilateral negotiations. On February 3, 2009, the court handed down its verdict, establishing a maritime boundary including the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones for Romania and Ukraine.
In 1997, Romania and Ukraine signed a treaty in which both states "reaffirm that the existing border between them is inviolable and therefore, they shall refrain, now and in future, from any attempt against the border, as well as from any demand, or act of, seizure and usurpation of part or all the territory of the Contracting Party". [1] Both sides agreed that if no resolution on maritime borders could be reached within two years, either side could seek a final ruling from the International Court of Justice. Ten million tonnes of oil and a billion cubic meters of natural gas deposits were discovered under the seabed nearby.[ when? ]
BP and Royal Dutch/Shell signed prospect contracts with Ukraine, and Total contracted with Romania. The Austrian OMV (the owner of Romania's largest oil company, Petrom) signed a contract with Naftogas of Ukraine and Chornomornaftogaz to participate in an auction of concession rights to the area.[ citation needed ]
Because of its location, Snake Island (Serpents' Island) affected the maritime boundary between the two countries. If Snake Island was an island, its continental shelf area would be considered Ukrainian waters. If it was an islet, in accordance with international law, the maritime boundary between Romania and Ukraine would not take it into consideration. Romania claimed that Ukraine was developing Snake Island to prove it was an island, rather than an islet. [2] In 2007, Ukraine founded a settlement, Bile, in Snake Island for the aforementioned purposes. [3]
On 16 September 2004, Romania brought a case against Ukraine to the International Court of Justice, as part of a dispute over the maritime boundary between the two states in the Black Sea, and claimed that Snake island had no socioeconomic significance. [4] Islands are generally considered when boundaries are delimited by the states themselves or by a third party, such as the ICJ. Depending on individual circumstances, islands may theoretically have full, partial or no effect on determinations of entitlement to maritime areas.
However, in practice, even islets are often respected in maritime delimitation. For example, Aves Island was considered in the United States – Venezuela Maritime Boundary Treaty despite its small size and the fact that it was uninhabited. Most states do not distinguish between islands, under Article 121(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, claim the shelf as an EEZ for all of their islands. Examples include the UK's Rockall, Japan's Okinotorishima, the US's Hawaiian Islands and a number of uninhabited islands along the equator and France's Clipperton and other islands.
Decisions by international courts, tribunals and other third-party dispute-resolution bodies have been less uniform. Although under Article 121(3), rocks are taken into account in delimiting maritime boundaries, they may be overlooked, discounted or enclaved if they have an inequitable distorting effect in light of their size and location. Even if such islands are not discounted, their influence on the delimitation may be minimal. Therefore, existing decisions have not reached the level of uniformity necessary for a rule of law.
Until this dispute, there had been no third-party international review of a particular feature's status as an Article 121(3) rock or Article 121(2) island, and the ICJ's decision was difficult to predict. If it declared Snake Island an island, in delimiting the maritime zones, the ICJ could consider "special" or "relevant" circumstances and give Snake Island full, partial or no effect on the boundary. On September 19, 2008, the ICJ closed its public hearing. [5] [6]
The court delivered its judgment on February 3, 2009, [7] dividing the Black Sea with a line between the claims of each country.
Although under Article 121(3), rocks are taken into account in delimiting maritime boundaries, they may be overlooked, discounted or enclaved if they have an inequitable distorting effect in light of their size and location. Even if such islands are not discounted, their influence on the delimitation may be minimal.
On the Romanian side, the ICJ found that the landward end of the Sulina dyke, not the manmade end, should be the basis for the equidistance principle. The court noted that a dyke has a different function from a port, and only harbour works form part of the coast. [8]
On the Ukrainian side, the court found that Snake Island did not form part of Ukraine's coastal configuration, explaining that "to count [Snake/Serpents'] Island as a relevant part of the coast would amount to grafting an extraneous element onto Ukraine's coastline; the consequence would be a judicial refashioning of Geography". The ICJ concluded that Snake Island "should have no effect on the delimitation in this case, other than that stemming from the role of the 12-nautical-mile arc of its territorial sea". [8] While the judgment drew a line that was equitable for both parties, Romania received nearly 80% of the disputed area, allowing it to exploit a significant but undetermined portion of an estimated 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas deposits and 15 million tonnes of oil under the seabed. [9]
However, according to UN International Court, Ukrainian commissioner Volodymyr Vasylenko, nearly all the oil and gas reserves are concentrated in the seabed that went to Ukraine. [10]
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko considered the ruling "just and final" and hoped that it would open "new opportunities for further fruitful cooperation in all sectors of the bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Romania". [11]
Likewise, Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu said his country had “many reasons to be satisfied by this ruling”, [12] and Romanian President Traian Basescu said the verdict was "a major success for [Romania's] Foreign Ministry." [13]
An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent or tidal ; and may exist in the sea, lakes, rivers or any other sizeable bodies of water.
Snake Island, also known as Serpent Island, White Island, Island of Achilles or Zmiinyi Island, is a Ukrainian island located in the Black Sea, near the Danube Delta, with an important role in delimiting Ukrainian territorial waters.
Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf. In a narrower sense, the term is often used as a synonym for the territorial sea.
Serranilla Bank is a partially submerged reef, with small uninhabited islets, in the western Caribbean Sea. It is situated about 350 kilometres (220 mi) northeast of Punta Gorda, Nicaragua, and roughly 280 kilometres (170 mi) southwest of Jamaica. The closest neighbouring land feature is Bajo Nuevo Bank, located 110 kilometres (68 mi) to the east.
Bajo Nuevo Bank, also known as the Petrel Islands, is a small, uninhabited reef with some small grass-covered islets, located in the western Caribbean Sea at 15°53′N78°38′W, with a lighthouse on Low Cay at 15°51′N78°38′W. The closest neighbouring land feature is Serranilla Bank, located 110 kilometres to the west.
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.
The Timor Gap Treaty was formally known as the Treaty between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the zone of cooperation in an area between the Indonesian province of East Timor and Northern Australia. It was a bilateral treaty between the governments of Australia and Indonesia, which provided for the joint exploitation of petroleum and hydrocarbon resources in a part of the Timor Sea Seabed. The treaty was signed on 11 December 1989 and came into force on 9 February 1991. The signatories to the treaty were then Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans and then Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.
Ambalat is a sea block in the Celebes sea located off the east coast of Borneo. It lies to the east of the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan and to the south-east of the Malaysian state of Sabah, and it is the subject of a territorial dispute between the two nations. Malaysia refers to part of the Ambalat block as Block ND6 (formerly Block Y) and part of East Ambalat Block as Block ND7 (formerly Block Z). The deep sea blocks contain an estimated 62,000,000 barrels (9,900,000 m3) of oil and 348 million cubic meters of natural gas. Other estimates place it substantially higher: 764,000,000 barrels (121,500,000 m3) of oil and 3.96 × 1010 cubic meters (1.4 trillion cubic feet) of gas, in only one of nine points in Ambalat.
Perú v. Chile was a public international law case concerning a territorial dispute between the South American republics of Peru and Chile over the sovereignty of an area at sea in the Pacific Ocean approximately 37,900 square kilometres (14,600 sq mi) in size. Peru contended that its maritime boundary delimitation with Chile was not fixed, but Chile claimed that it holds no outstanding border issues with Peru. On January 16, 2008, Peru brought forth the case to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the Netherlands, which accepted the case and formally filed it as the Case concerning maritime delimitation between the Republic of Peru and the Republic of Chile - Perú v. Chile.
The Indonesia–Malaysia border consists of a 1,881 km land border that divides the territory of Indonesia and Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It also includes maritime boundaries along the length of the Straits of Malacca, in the South China Sea and in the Celebes Sea.
Romania–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between Romania and Ukraine. Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on February 9, 1918, and re-established in 1992. In 2020, it was announced that Romania would open a consulate for Ukraine in Sighetu Marmației.
A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of Earth's water surface areas using physiographical or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources, encompassing maritime features, limits and zones. Generally, a maritime boundary is delineated at a particular distance from a jurisdiction's coastline. Although in some countries the term maritime boundary represents borders of a maritime nation that are recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, maritime borders usually serve to identify the edge of international waters.
Denmark/Federal Republic of Germany/Netherlands [1969] ICJ 1 were a series of disputes that came to the International Court of Justice in 1969. They involved agreements among Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands regarding the "delimitation" of areas, rich in oil and gas, of the continental shelf in the North Sea.
Kenya–Somalia relations are bilateral relations between Kenya and Somalia. Both countries are members of the African Union and Non-Aligned Movement.
Maican Island is a Ukrainian islet in the Danube.
Several states have claimed interests over the sea bed adjoining Rockall, an uninhabitable granite islet which is located within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United Kingdom. Ireland, Denmark, Iceland, and the United Kingdom have all made submissions to the commission set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The Romania–Ukraine border is the state border between Romania and Ukraine. It consists of both a land and a maritime boundary. The total border length is 613.8 km (381.4 mi) including 292.2 km (181.6 mi) by rivers and 33 km (21 mi) by the Black Sea. It is part of the external border of the European Union.
The borders of Indonesia include land and maritime borders with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor, as well as shared maritime boundaries with Australia, India, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Romania joined the United Nations (UN) on 14 December 1955 following the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 109. Romania had already attempted to join the UN on 1947, but its membership application was rejected after the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 29.
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