Helga Law Journal

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Helga Law Journal - 01.01.2021, Qupperneq 71

Helga Law Journal - 01.01.2021, Qupperneq 71
Helga Law Journal Vol. 1, 2021 72 Dr. Snjólaug Árnadóttir 73 onerous or ‘the value to be gained by further performance is diminished’.127 The reference to obligations still to be performed confirms that VCLT article 62 is not applicable to treaties that have been fully executed; there have to be obligations that have not yet been performed or a requirement of continuing performance.128 Obligations under a maritime boundary agreement certainly entail ongoing obligations and the ‘value to be gained by further performance’ will be affected when there is a considerable divergence between a State‘s entitlements under UNCLOS and rights afforded by the agreement. Even if all the conditions of rebus sic stantibus are met, it is still unlikely that States will be released from their obligation to respect bilateral maritime boundaries on these grounds. First, international courts and tribunals have yet to accept the application of the rebus sic stantibus principle in a contentious case. Second, treaties establishing boundaries are exempt from termination under VCLT article 62.129 This exclusion of boundary treaties may not cover all maritime boundaries. The ICJ has suggested that treaties delimiting the continental shelf should fall within this boundary exclusion.130 However, the fact that a line qualifies as a boundary in some respects, does not automatically make it a boundary within the meaning of VCLT article 62(2)(a).131 When codifying the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Between States and International Organizations or Between International Organizations, the ILC stated that territorial sea boundaries were ‘true limit[s] of the territory of the State’. It further explained that even if other maritime boundaries could also be categorized as ‘true boundaries’, they might not fall within the boundary exclusion of VCLT article 62(2)(a).132 This discussion was inconclusive but suggests that territorial sea boundaries may be exempt from termination on the basis of fundamental changes, while other maritime boundaries (exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and single purpose boundaries) are not. At any rate, States can prevent termination of bilateral maritime boundaries on these grounds by taking foreseeable changes to coastal geography into account in the delimitation process and explicitly referring to those changes in their agreements. Finally, the pacta tertiis principle provides that treaties cannot create obligations or rights for third States without their consent.133 This is consonant to Guiding 127 Thomas Giegerich, ‘Article 62. Fundamental Change of Circumstances’, in Oliver Dörr and Kirsten Schmalenbach (eds) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary (Springer 2012)1067, 1089, referring to Yearbook of the ILC, 1957, vol II (n 126) 60, para 151. 128 ILC, ‘Fifth Report on the Law of Treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur’ (15 November 1965-18 January 1966) UN Doc A/CN.4/183 and Add.1-4, 43. 129 See paragraph 2(a). 130 Aegean Sea Continental Shelf (Greece v Turkey) (Jurisdiction) [1978] ICJ Rep 3, para 85. 131 ILC, ‘Report of the Commission to the General Assembly on the work of the thirty-fourth session’ (3 May-23 July 1982) UN Doc A/CN.4/SER.A/1982/Add.l (Part 2) 60-61. See also Thomas Giegerich (n 127) 1093. 132 UN Doc A/CN.4/SER.A/1982/Add.l (Part 2) (n 131) 61. 133 VCLT article 34. obligations under a treaty have become ‘unduly burdensome’.116 Similarly, decisions of the ICJ may be revised in light of new facts or subsequent developments.117 Furthermore, maritime boundaries may be set aside when subject to the pacta tertiis principle, i.e., when they violate the rights of third States.118 These possibilities may be available in exceptional circumstances but the general rule remains that bilateral boundaries are permanently binding. Rebus sic stantibus provides that an unforeseen fundamental change of circumstance can be invoked as grounds for suspending, withdrawing from or terminating a treaty if it affects the essential basis of the treaty and radically transforms obligations still to be performed.119 This customary rule has been codified in article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The VCLT is limited to treaties between States120 that are in written form and governed by international law.121 Yet, the principle may also affect judicial decisions because res judicata only prevents the revision of boundaries insofar as the same relief is sought on the grounds advanced in previous proceedings between the same parties.122 A fundamental change under article 62 must relate to the facts that led both parties to give their consent to be bound by the treaty and be extensive enough to alter the treaty’s raison d’être.123 Environmental changes affecting coastal geography can potentially qualify as such124 and affect the essential basis of maritime boundary treaties, given the importance of coastal geography to the delimitation process. However, changes cannot be invoked to terminate a treaty if they were foreseen by the parties when the treaty was concluded,125 i.e. anticipated in any way, either expressly or by implied terms.126 VCLT article 62(1)(b) provides that the effect of a change must be to radically transform the extent of obligations still to be performed under a treaty. An obligation is transformed when it is made more 116 See Eric Stein and Dominique Carreau, ‘Law and Peaceful Change in a Subsystem: “Withdrawal” of France from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’ (1968) 62 American Journal of International Law 577, 617. 117 See article 61 of the Statute of the ICJ. 118 See VCLT article 34. 119 See VCLT article 62(1). 120 VCLT article 1. 121 VCLT article 2(1)(a). 122 Andreas Kulick, ‘Article 60 ICJ Statute, Interpretation Proceedings, and the Competing Concepts of Res Judicata’ (2015) 28 (1) Leiden Journal of International Law 73, 74. 123 Paul Reuter, Introduction to the Law of Treaties (Kegan Paul International 1995) 189. 124 See Jeremy Waldron, ‘F.W. Guest Memorial Lecture: August 22nd, 2005: The Half-Life of Treaties: Waitangi, Rebus Sic Stantibus’ (2006) 11 Otago Law Review 161, 170. 125 VCLT article 62(1). 126 ILC, ‘Second Report on the Law of Treaties, by Mr GG Fitzmaurice, Special Rapporteur’ (15 March 1957) UN Doc A/CN.4/107, 33.
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