COMPENDIUM OF SUMMARIES OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS IN ENVIRONMENT RELATED CASES

INTERNATIONAL

International Law - Integration of Environment and Development- Principle of Sustainable Development

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

1997 General List No. 92 25 September 1997

CASE CONCERNING THE GABCIKOVO- NAGYMAROS PROJECT (HUNGARY/SLOVAKIA)

Introduction

Several differences had arisen between Czechoslovakia and Hungary regarding the implementation and the termination of the Treaty on the Construction and Operation of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Barrage System signed in Budapest on 16 September 1977 concerning the construction and operation of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros System of Locks and related instruments, and on the construction and operation of the "provisional solution". By a Special Agreement that had been signed at Brussels on 7 April 1993 Hungary and Slovakia submitted to the International Court of Justice the following questions for adjudication:

(a) Whether the Republic of Hungary was entitled to suspend and subsequently abandon, in 1989, the works on the Nagymaros Project and on the part of the Gabcikovo Project for which the Treaty attributed responsibility to Hungary;

(b) Whether the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic was entitled to proceed, in November 1991, to the "provisional solution" and to put into operation from October 1992 this system, described in the Report of the Working Group of Independent Experts of the Commission of the European Communities, the Republic of Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic dated 23 November 1992 (damming up of the Danube at river kilometre 1851.7 on Czechoslovak territory and resulting consequences on water and navigation course);

(c) What are the legal effects of the notification, on 19 May 1992, of the termination of the Treaty by the Republic of Hungary.

Held

The Court held, inter alia,

A. By fourteen votes to one, that Hungary was not entitled to suspend and subsequently abandon, in 1989, the works on the Nagymaros Project and on the part of the Gabcikovo Project for which the Treaty of 16 September 1977 and related instruments attributed responsibility to it;

B. By nine votes to six, that Czechoslovakia was entitled to proceed, in November 1991, to the "provisional solution" as described in the terms of the Special Agreement;

C. By ten votes to five, that Czechoslovakia was not entitled to put into operation, from October 1992, this "provisional solution";

D. By eleven votes to four, that the notification, on 19 May 1992, of the termination of the Treaty of 16 September 1977 and related instruments by Hungary did not have the legal effect of terminating them;

E. By thirteen votes to two, that the settlement of accounts for the construction and operation of the works must be effected in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaty of 16 September 1977 and related instruments, taking due account of such measures as will have been taken by the Parties in application of points 2 B and C of the present operative paragraph.

The Court recalled that it has recently had occasion to stress, in the following terms, the great significance that it attaches to respect for the environment, not only for States but also for the whole of mankind:

"The environment is not an abstraction but represents the living space, the quality of life and the very health of human beings, including generations unborn. The existence of the general obligation of States to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction and control respect the environment of other States or of areas beyond national control is now part of the corpus of international law relating to the environment." (Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J Reports 1996, pp. 241-242, para. 29.)

The Court stated further that it was mindful that, in the field of environmental protection, vigilance and prevention are required on account of the often irreversible character of damage to the environment and of the limitations inherent in the very mechanism of reparation of this type of damage.

Throughout the ages, mankind has, for economic and other reasons, constantly interfered with nature. In the past, this was often done without consideration of the effects upon the environment. Owing to new scientific insights and to a growing awareness of the risks for mankind - for present and future generations of pursuit of such interventions at an unconsidered and unabated pace, new norms and standards have been developed, set forth in a great number of instruments during the last two decades. Such new norms have to be taken into consideration, and such new standards given proper weight, not only when States contemplate new activities but also when continuing with activities begun in the past. This need to reconcile economic development with protection of the environment is aptly expressed in the concept of sustainable development.

(The Separate Opinion of Vice-President Weeramantry is reproduced in full.)