PULP MILLS (JUDGMENT)
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Argentina repeatedly asked, including at CARU meetings, that the initial work connected with the Orion (Botnia) mill and the CMB (ENCE)
mill should be suspended. At a meeting between the Heads of State of the
Parties at Santiago de Chile on 11 March 2006, Uruguay’s President
asked ENCE and Botnia to suspend construction of the mills. ENCE suspended work for 90 days (see paragraph 36 above), Botnia for ten.
43. Argentina referred the present dispute to the Court by Application
dated 4 May 2006. On 24 August 2006, Uruguay authorized the commissioning of the port terminal adjacent to the Orion (Botnia) mill and gave
CARU notice of this on 4 September 2006. On 12 September 2006, Uruguay authorized Botnia to extract and use water from the river for industrial purposes and formally notified CARU of its authorization on
17 October 2006. At the summit of Heads of State and Government of
the Ibero-American countries held in Montevideo in November 2006, the
King of Spain was asked to endeavour to reconcile the positions of the
Parties ; a negotiated resolution of the dispute did not however result. On
8 November 2007, Uruguay authorized the commissioning of the Orion
(Botnia) mill and it began operating the next day. In December 2009, Oy
Metsä-Botnia AB transferred its interest in the Orion (Botnia) mill to
UPM, another Finnish company.
*
44. In addition, Uruguay authorized Ontur International S.A. to build
and operate a port terminal at Nueva Palmira. The terminal was inaugurated in August 2007 and, on 16 November 2007, Uruguay transmitted to
CARU a copy of the authorization for its commissioning.
45. In their written pleadings the Parties have debated whether, in
light of the procedural obligations laid down in the 1975 Statute, the
authorizations for the port terminal were properly issued by Uruguay.
The Court deems it unnecessary to review the detailed facts leading up to
the construction of the Nueva Palmira terminal, being of the view that
these port facilities do not fall within the scope of the subject of the dispute before it. Indeed, nowhere in the claims asserted in its Application
or in the submissions in its Memorial or Reply (see paragraphs 22 and 23
above) did Argentina explicitly refer to the port terminal at Nueva
Palmira. In its final submissions presented at the hearing on 29 September 2009, Argentina again limited the subject-matter of its claims to the
authorization of the construction of the CMB (ENCE) mill and the
authorization of the construction and commissioning of “the Botnia mill
and its associated facilities on the left bank of the River Uruguay”. The
Court does not consider the port terminal at Nueva Palmira, which lies
some 100 km south of Fray Bentos, downstream of the Orion (Botnia)
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