State responsibility would be due from Australia, if found responsible, for the whole or only for part of the damage Nauru alleges it has suffered, regard being had to the characteristics of the Mandate and Trusteeship Systems … and, in particular, the special role played by Australia in the administration of the Territory”.715 (5) The extent of responsibility for conduct carried on by a number of States is sometimes addressed in treaties.716 A well-known example is the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects. Article IV, paragraph 1, provides expressly for “joint and several liability” where damage is suffered by a third State as a result of a collision between two space objects launched by two States. In some cases liability is strict; in others it is based on fault. Article IV, paragraph 2, provides: In all cases of joint and several liability referred to in paragraph 1 … the burden of compensation for the damage shall be apportioned between the first two States in accordance with the extent to which they were at fault; if the extent of the fault of each of these States cannot be established, the burden of compensation shall be apportioned equally between them. Such apportionment shall be without prejudice to the right of the third State to seek the entire compensation due under this Convention from any or all of the launching States which are jointly and severally liable.717 This is clearly a lex specialis, and it concerns liability for lawful conduct rather than responsibility in the sense of the present articles.718 At the same time, it indicates what a regime of “joint and several” liability might amount to so far as an injured State is concerned. (6) According to paragraph 1 of article 47, where several States are responsible for the same internationally wrongful act, the responsibility of each State may be invoked in relation to that act. The general rule in international law is that of separate responsibility of a State for its own wrongful acts and paragraph 1 reflects this general rule. Paragraph 1 neither recognizes a general rule of joint and several responsibility, nor does it exclude the possibility that two or more States will be responsible for the same internationally wrongful act. Whether this is so will depend on the circumstances and on the international obligations of each of the States concerned. (7) Under paragraph 1 of article 47, where several States are each responsible for the same internationally wrongful act, the responsibility of each may be separately invoked by an injured State in the sense of article 42. The conse715 Ibid., p. 262, para. 56. The case was subsequently withdrawn by agreement, Australia agreeing to pay by instalments an amount corresponding to the full amount of Nauru’s claim. Subsequently, the two other Governments agreed to contribute to the payments made under the settlement. See Certain Phosphate Lands in Nauru, Order (footnote 232 above) and the settlement agreement (ibid.). 716 A special case is the responsibility of the European Union and its member States under “mixed agreements”, where the Union and all or some members are parties in their own name. See, e.g., annex IX to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Generally on mixed agreements, see, e.g., A. Rosas, “Mixed Union mixed agreements”, International Law Aspects of the European Union, M. Koskenniemi, ed. (The Hague, Kluwer, 1998), p. 125. 717 See also article V, paragraph 2, which provides for indemnification between States which are jointly and severally liable. 718 See paragraph 4 of the general commentary for the distinction between international responsibility for wrongful acts and international liability arising from lawful conduct. 125 quences that flow from the wrongful act, for example in terms of reparation, will be those which flow from the provisions of Part Two in relation to that State. (8) Article 47 only addresses the situation of a plurality of responsible States in relation to the same internationally wrongful act. The identification of such an act will depend on the particular primary obligation, and cannot be prescribed in the abstract. Of course, situations can also arise where several States by separate internationally wrongful conduct have contributed to causing the same damage. For example, several States might contribute to polluting a river by the separate discharge of pollutants. In the Corfu Channel incident, it appears that Yugoslavia actually laid the mines and would have been responsible for the damage they caused. ICJ held that Albania was responsible to the United Kingdom for the same damage on the basis that it knew or should have known of the presence of the mines and of the attempt by the British ships to exercise their right of transit, but failed to warn the ships.719 Yet, it was not suggested that Albania’s responsibility for failure to warn was reduced, let alone precluded, by reason of the concurrent responsibility of a third State. In such cases, the responsibility of each participating State is determined individually, on the basis of its own conduct and by reference to its own international obligations. (9) The general principle set out in paragraph 1 of article 47 is subject to the two provisos set out in paragraph 2. Subparagraph (a) addresses the question of double recovery by the injured State. It provides that the injured State may not recover, by way of compensation, more than the damage suffered.720 This provision is designed to protect the responsible States, whose obligation to compensate is limited by the damage suffered. The principle is only concerned to ensure against the actual recovery of more than the amount of the damage. It would not exclude simultaneous awards against two or more responsible States, but the award would be satisfied so far as the injured State is concerned by payment in full made by any one of them. (10) The second proviso, in subparagraph (b), recognizes that where there is more than one responsible State in respect of the same injury, questions of contribution may arise between them. This is specifically envisaged, for example, in articles IV, paragraph 2, and V, paragraph 2, of the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects. On the other hand, there may be cases where recourse by one responsible State against another should not be allowed. Subparagraph (b) does not address the question of contribution among several States which are responsible for the same wrongful act; it merely provides that the general principle stated in paragraph 1 is without prejudice to any right of recourse which one responsible State may have against any other responsible State. 719 Corfu Channel, Merits (see footnote 35 above), pp. 22–23. Such a principle was affirmed, for example, by PCIJ in the Factory at Chorzów, Merits case (see footnote 34 above), when it held that a remedy sought by Germany could not be granted “or the same compensation would be awarded twice over” (p. 59); see also pp. 45 and 49. 720