When asked to prepare this paper about the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (the Project) as an element of practice in the settlement of international water disputes, I replied that the questions put to the Court by the parties in that case, and the Court's answers to those questions, involved more than disposition of a water dispute. Nevertheless the case is of interest to the present proceedings.

Background of the case

In 1977, the Hungarian People's Republic and the Czechoslovak People's Republic concluded a treaty (the 1977 Treaty) for the construction and operation of a system of Danube River locks as a “joint investment.” That investment was essentially aimed at the production of hydroelectricity, the improvement of navigation in that section of the Danube, and the protection of areas along the banks against flooding. The parties at the same time undertook to ensure that the quality of water in the Danube was not impaired as a result of the Project, and that obligations for the protection of nature arising in connection with the construction and operation of the system of locks would be observed. Navigational and fishing interests were also to be protected.