PULP MILLS (JUDGMENT) 57 sarily consist of a full assessment of the environmental impact of the project, which will often require further time and resources, although, where more complete information is available, this should, of course, be transmitted to CARU to give it the best possible basis on which to make its preliminary assessment. In any event, the duty to inform CARU will become applicable at the stage when the relevant authority has had the project referred to it with the aim of obtaining initial environmental authorization and before the granting of that authorization. 106. The Court observes that, in the present case, Uruguay did not transmit to CARU the information required by Article 7, first paragraph, in respect of the CMB (ENCE) and Orion (Botnia) mills, despite the requests made to it by the Commission to that effect on several occasions, in particular on 17 October 2002 and 21 April 2003 with regard to the CMB (ENCE) mill, and on 16 November 2004 with regard to the Orion (Botnia) mill. Uruguay merely sent CARU, on 14 May 2003, a summary for public release of the environmental impact assessment for the CMB (ENCE) mill. CARU considered this document to be inadequate and again requested further information from Uruguay on 15 August 2003 and 12 September 2003. Moreover, Uruguay did not transmit any document to CARU regarding the Orion (Botnia) mill. Consequently, Uruguay issued the initial environmental authorizations to CMB on 9 October 2003 and to Botnia on 14 February 2005 without complying with the procedure laid down in Article 7, first paragraph. Uruguay therefore came to a decision on the environmental impact of the projects without involving CARU, thereby simply giving effect to Article 17, third paragraph, of Uruguayan Decree No. 435/994 of 21 September 1994, Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation, according to which the Ministry of Housing, Land Use Planning and Environmental Affairs may grant the initial environmental authorization provided that the adverse environmental impacts of the project remain within acceptable limits. 107. The Court further notes that on 12 April 2005 Uruguay granted an authorization to Botnia for the first phase of the construction of the Orion (Botnia) mill and, on 5 July 2005, an authorization to construct a port terminal for its exclusive use and to utilize the river bed for industrial purposes, without informing CARU of these projects in advance. 108. With regard to the extraction and use of water from the river, of which CARU should have first been informed, according to Argentina, the Court takes the view that this is an activity which forms an integral part of the commissioning of the Orion (Botnia) mill and therefore did not require a separate referral to CARU. 109. However, Uruguay maintains that CARU was made aware of the plans for the mills by representatives of ENCE on 8 July 2002, and no later than 29 April 2004 by representatives of Botnia, before the initial environmental authorizations were issued. Argentina, for its part, considers that these so-called private dealings, whatever form they may have 47

Select target paragraph3