Maritime Dispute (Peru v. Chile)

Present: Vice-President Tomka; Judges Shi, Al-Khasawneh, Buergenthal, Simma, Keith, Sepulveda-Amor, Bennouna, Skotnikov, Cançado Trindade, Yusuf; Registrar Couvreur.

The International Court of Justice,

Composed as above,

After deliberation,

Having regard to Article 48 of the Statute of the Court and to Articles 13, paragraph 3, 31, 44, 45, paragraph 2, 48 and 49 of the Rules of Court,

Having regard to the Application filed in the Registry of the Court on 16 January 2008, whereby the Republic of Peru instituted proceedings against the Republic of Chile in respect of a dispute concerning, on the one hand, "the delimitation of the boundary between the maritime zones of the two States in the Pacific Ocean, beginning at a point on the coast called Concordia ... the terminal point of the land boundary established pursuant to the Treaty ... of 3 June 1929" and, on the other, the recognition in favour of Peru of a "maritime zone lying within 200 nautical miles of Peru’s coast" and which should thus appertain to it, "but which Chile considers to be part of the high seas",

Having regard to the Order of 31 March 2008, by which the Court fixed 20 March 2009 and 9 March 2010 as the time-limits for the filing, respectively, of the Memorial of the Republic of Peru and the Counter-Memorial of the Republic of Chile,

Having regard to the Memorial and the Counter-Memorial duly filed by the Parties within those time-limits;

Whereas, at a meeting on 12 April 2010 between the President of the Court and the Agents of the Parties, the Agent of Peru, referring inter alia to the number of points still in dispute between the Parties after the first round of written pleadings, requested the Court to authorize the filing of a Reply by the Applicant and of a Rejoinder by the Respondent; and whereas the Agent of Peru proposed that a period of approximately eight months, calculated from the date of submission of Chile’s Counter-Memorial, be allocated to his Government for the preparation of its Reply, an equal time-limit being given to the Government of Chile for the preparation of its Rejoinder ; and whereas at the same meeting the Agent of Chile indicated that this proposal met with the approval of his Government ;

Taking account of the agreement of the Parties,

Authorizes the submission of a Reply by Peru and a Rejoinder by Chile;

Fixes the following time-limits for the filing of those pleadings:

9 November 2010 for the Reply of the Republic of Peru;

11 July 2011 for the Rejoinder of the Republic of Chile; and

Reserves the subsequent procedure for further decision.

Done in French and in English, the French text being authoritative, at the Peace Palace, The Hague, this twenty-seventh day of April, two thousand and ten, in three copies, one of which will be placed in the archives of the Court and the others transmitted to the Government of the Republic of Peru and the Government of the Republic of Chile, respectively.