PULP MILLS (JUDGMENT)
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and rational utilization of the [r]iver” (Article 1), just as are the provisions concerning use of water, the conservation, utilization and development of other natural resources, pollution and research. The aim is also
said to be to prevent the Parties from acting unilaterally and without
regard for earlier or current uses of the river. According to Argentina,
any disregarding of this machinery would therefore undermine the object
and purpose of the 1975 Statute ; indeed the “optimum and rational
utilization of the [r]iver” would not be ensured, as this could only
be achieved in accordance with the procedures laid down under the
Statute.
72. It follows, according to Argentina, that a breach of the procedural
obligations automatically entails a breach of the substantive obligations,
since the two categories of obligations are indivisible. Such a position is
said to be supported by the Order of the Court of 13 July 2006, according
to which the 1975 Statute created “a comprehensive régime”.
73. Uruguay similarly takes the view that the procedural obligations
are intended to facilitate the performance of the substantive obligations,
the former being a means rather than an end. It too points out that Article 1 of the 1975 Statute defines its object and purpose.
74. However, Uruguay rejects Argentina’s argument as artificial, since
it appears to mix procedural and substantive questions with the aim of
creating the belief that the breach of procedural obligations necessarily
entails the breach of substantive ones. According to Uruguay, it is for the
Court to determine the breach, in itself, of each of these categories of
obligations, and to draw the necessary conclusions in each case in terms
of responsibility and reparation.
75. The Court notes that the object and purpose of the 1975 Statute,
set forth in Article 1, is for the Parties to achieve “the optimum and
rational utilization of the River Uruguay” by means of the “joint machinery” for co-operation, which consists of both CARU and the procedural
provisions contained in Articles 7 to 12 of the Statute.
The Court has observed in this respect, in its Order of 13 July 2006,
that such use should allow for sustainable development which takes
account of “the need to safeguard the continued conservation of the river
environment and the rights of economic development of the riparian
States” (Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay), Provisional Measures, Order of 13 July 2006, I.C.J. Reports 2006, p. 133,
para. 80).
76. In the Gabčikovo-Nagymaros case, the Court, after recalling that
“[t]his need to reconcile economic development with protection of the
environment is aptly expressed in the concept of sustainable development”, added that “[i]t is for the Parties themselves to find an agreed
solution that takes account of the objectives of the Treaty” (Gabčíkovo38