PULP MILLS (JUDGMENT)
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V. THE CLAIMS MADE BY THE PARTIES
IN THEIR FINAL SUBMISSIONS
267. Having concluded that Uruguay breached its procedural obligations under the 1975 Statute (see paragraphs 111, 122, 131, 149, 157 and
158 above), it is for the Court to draw the conclusions following from
these internationally wrongful acts giving rise to Uruguay’s international
responsibility and to determine what that responsibility entails.
268. Argentina first requests the Court to find that Uruguay has violated the procedural obligations incumbent on it under the 1975 Statute
and has thereby engaged its international responsibility. Argentina further
requests the Court to order that Uruguay immediately cease these internationally wrongful acts.
269. The Court considers that its finding of wrongful conduct by Uruguay in respect of its procedural obligations per se constitutes a measure
of satisfaction for Argentina. As Uruguay’s breaches of the procedural
obligations occurred in the past and have come to an end, there is no
cause to order their cessation.
270. Argentina nevertheless argues that a finding of wrongfulness
would be insufficient as reparation, even if the Court were to find that
Uruguay has not breached any substantive obligation under the 1975 Statute but only some of its procedural obligations. Argentina maintains that
the procedural obligations and substantive obligations laid down in the
1975 Statute are closely related and cannot be severed from one another
for purposes of reparation, since undesirable effects of breaches of the
former persist even after the breaches have ceased. Accordingly, Argentina contends that Uruguay is under an obligation to “re-establish on the
ground and in legal terms the situation that existed before [the] internationally wrongful acts were committed”. To this end, the Orion
(Botnia) mill should be dismantled. According to Argentina, restitutio in
integrum is the primary form of reparation for internationally wrongful
acts. Relying on Article 35 of the International Law Commission’s
Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts,
Argentina maintains that restitution takes precedence over all other forms
of reparation except where it is “materially impossible” or involves
“a burden out of all proportion to the benefit deriving from restitution
instead of compensation”. It asserts that dismantling the mill is not materially impossible and would not create for the Respondent State a
burden out of all proportion, since the Respondent has
“maintained that construction of the mills would not amount to a
fait accompli liable to prejudice Argentina’s rights and that it was
for Uruguay alone to decide whether to proceed with construction
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