PULP MILLS (JUDGMENT)
44
of the River Uruguay, in strict observance of the rights and obligations arising from treaties and other international agreements in
force for each of the parties.” (UNTS, Vol. 1295, No. I-21425,
p. 340 ; footnote omitted.)
Article 1 sets out the purpose of the 1975 Statute. The Parties concluded it in order to establish the joint machinery necessary for the
rational and optimum utilization of the River Uruguay. It is true that this
article contains a reference to “the rights and obligations arising from
treaties and other international agreements in force for each of the
parties”. This reference, however, does not suggest that the Parties sought
to make compliance with their obligations under other treaties one of
their duties under the 1975 Statute ; rather, the reference to other treaties
emphasizes that the agreement of the Parties on the Statute is reached
in implementation of the provisions of Article 7 of the 1961 Treaty
and “in strict observance of the rights and obligations arising from
treaties and other international agreements in force for each of the
parties” (emphasis added). While the conjunction “and” is missing
from the English and French translations of the 1975 Statute, as
published in the United Nations Treaty Series (ibid., p. 340 and p. 348),
it is contained in the Spanish text of the Statute, which is the authentic
text and reads as follows :
“Las partes acuerdan el presente Estatuto, en cumplimiento de lo
dispuesto en el Artículo 7 del Tratado de Límites en el Río Uruguay,
de 7 de Abril de 1961 con el fin de establecer los mecanismos
comunes necesarios para el óptimo y racional aprovechamiento del
Río Uruguay, y en estricta observancia de los derechos y obligaciones emergentes de los tratados y demás compromisos internacionales vigentes para cualquiera de las partes.” (Ibid., p. 332 ; emphasis
added.)
The presence of the conjunction in the Spanish text suggests that the
clause “in strict observance of the rights and obligations arising from
treaties and other international agreements in force for each of the
parties” is linked to and is to be read with the first part of Article 1, i.e.,
“[t]he parties agree on this Statute, in implementation of the provisions of
Article 7 of the Treaty concerning the Boundary Constituted by the
River Uruguay”.
60. There is one additional element in the language of Article 1 of
the 1975 Statute which should be noted. It mentions “treaties and
other international agreements in force for each of the parties” (in
Spanish original “tratados y demás compromisos internacionales vigentes para cualquiera de las partes” ; emphasis added). In the French
translation, this part of Article 1 reads “traités et autres engagements
internationaux en vigueur à l’égard de l’une ou l’autre des parties”
(emphasis added).
The fact that Article 1 does not require that the “treaties and other
34