Maritime Delimitation in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) - The Court to arrange for an expert opinion

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0)70 302 2323 Fax: +31 (0)70 364 9928
Website: www.icj-cij.org Twitter Account: @CIJ_ICJ

Press Release

Unofficial

No. 2016/17
9 June 2016

Delimitation in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean
(Costa Rica v. Nicaragua)

The Court to arrange for an expert opinion

THE HAGUE, 9 June 2016. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial
organ of the United Nations, is to arrange for an expert opinion relating to the state of a portion of
the Caribbean coast near the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in the case concerning
Delimitation in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua).

By an Order of 31 May 2016, the Court decided that:

“(1) An expert opinion shall be obtained, which will be entrusted to two independent experts
appointed by Order of the President of the Court after hearing the Parties.

(2) The experts referred to in paragraph (1) above shall visit the site. They shall advise the
Court regarding the state of the coast between the point suggested by Costa Rica and the point
suggested by Nicaragua in their pleadings as the starting-point of the maritime boundary in the
Caribbean Sea, and in particular answer the following questions:

(a)What are the geographical co-ordinates of the point at which the right bank of the
San Juan River meets the sea at the low-water line?

(b)What are the geographical co-ordinates of the land point which most closely
approximates to that identified by the first Alexander Award as the starting-point of
the land boundary?

(c)Is there a bank of sand or any maritime feature between the points referred to in
subparagraphs (a) and (b) above? If so, what are their physical characteristics? In
particular, are these features, or some of them, permanently above water, even at
high tide? Is Los Portillos/Harbor Head Lagoon separated from the sea?

(d)To what extent is it possible, or probable, that the area concerned will undergo major
physical changes in the short and long term? - 2 -

(3) Before taking up his duties, each expert shall make the following declaration:

‘I solemnly declare, upon my honour and conscience, that I will perform my
duties as expert honourably and faithfully, impartially and conscientiously, and will
refrain from divulging or using, outside the Court, any documents or information of a
confidential character which may come to my knowledge in the course of the
performance of my task.’

(4) The Registrar shall be responsible for the secretarial arrangements of the experts. He may
appoint officials of the Registry to perform these duties.

(5) The Registrar shall place the pleadings and annexed documents in the case at the disposal of the
experts, who shall treat them as confidential so long as they have not been made available to
the public in accordance with Article 53, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court.

(6) The Parties shall furnish any necessary assistance to the expert mission.

(7) The experts shall prepare a written report on their findings and file it with the Registry. That

report shall be communicated to the Parties, which shall be given the opportunity of
commenting upon it, pursuant to Article 67, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court.

(8) The experts shall be present, in so far as required, at the oral proceedings. They will answer
questions from the Agents, Counsel and Advocates of the Parties, pursuant to Article 65 of the
Rules of Court.

(9) The Court reserves the right to put further questions to the experts if it thinks fit.”

In its Order, the Court explains that there are certain factual matters relating to the state of
the coast that may be relevant for the purpose of settling the dispute submitted to it, which concerns
in particular the delimitation of the maritime boundary between the Parties in the Caribbean Sea,
and that, with regard to such matters, it would benefit from an expert opinion. The Court also
points out that, having heard the Parties pursuant to Article 67, paragraph 1, of the Rules of Court,
and possessing all the information needed for the purpose of its decision, it is now in a position to

define the subject of the expert opinion, state the number and mode of appointment of the experts,
and lay down the procedure to be followed.

The Court further emphasizes in its Order that the decision to arrange for an expert opinion
in no way prejudges the question of the determination of the starting-point or the course of the
maritime boundary between the Parties in the Caribbean Sea, nor any other question relating to the
dispute brought before the Court, and leaves intact the Parties’ right to submit their arguments on
those subjects, in accordance with the Rules of Court.

History of the proceedings

On 25 February 2014, the Republic of Costa Rica instituted proceedings against the Republic
of Nicaragua with regard to a “[d]ispute concerning maritime delimitation in the Caribbean Sea and
the Pacific Ocean”.

In its Application, Costa Rica requests the Court

“to determine the complete course of a single maritime boundary between all the
maritime areas appertaining, respectively, to Costa Rica and to Nicaragua in the
Caribbean Sea and in the Pacific Ocean, on the basis of international law”.

The Applicant “further requests the Court to determine the precise geographical co-ordinates
of the single maritime boundaries in the Caribbean Sea and in the Pacific Ocean”. - 3 -

By an Order dated 1 April 2014, the Court fixed 3 February 2015 and 8 December 2015 as
the respective time-limits for the filing of a Memorial by Costa Rica and a Counter-Memorial by

Nicaragua. The Memorial and the Counter-Memorial were filed within the time-limits thus
prescribed. The Parties have agreed not to ask for a second round of written pleadings.

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Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only

and do not constitute official documents.
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The full text of the Order will be available shortly on the Court’s website.

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in
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Information Department:
Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Mr. Boris Heim, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Ms Joanne Moore, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)