Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay)

In the Pulp Mills decision, the International Court of Justice made several important precisions with respect to environmental impact assessments’ status in international law. In particular, the Court held that: “[..], the obligation to protect and preserve, under Article 41 (a) of the Statute, has to be interpreted in accordance with a practice, which in recent years has gained so much acceptance among States that it may now be considered a requirement under general international law to undertake an environmental impact assessment where there is a risk that the proposed industrial activity may have a significant adverse impact in a transboundary context, in particular, on a shared resource.”(para.204). The Court further considered that an EIA should be conducted prior to the implementation of the project. (para.205). The Court nevertheless held that the content and scope of EIAs had not yet been defined by either general international law or by the Statute. Therefore, the Court considered that each State should determine EIAs’ content in its domestic legislation.