Implications of the Concurrence of Jurisdiction between ECJ ant ITLOS: The Mox-Plant Decision of the European Court of Justice

INTRODUCTION

The MOX Plant case was a landmark ruling centered on a dispute involving Ireland and the UK . The case was of great significance as it demonstrated the mounting difficulties posed by jurisdictional competition between the European Court of Justice (ECJ ) and other international courts and tribunals . The dispute was brought before the ECJ by the European Commission (EC ) with claims that Ireland , in instituting a suit against the UK , had contravened Articles 292EC , 10 EC , 192EA and 193EA . The dispute concerned issues related to pollution of the Irish Sea by

radioactive emissions produced by MOX plant , a nuclear re-processing company in the UK

In the Commission vs . Ireland case , the latter 's argument was premised on the assertion that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNICLOS ) provisions explicitly permitted the Convention to enforce not just its own stipulations but also those of international law which were compatible with those of the convention . In retaliation , the UK countered that UNICLOS did not confer such jurisdictional authority on the Tribunal . That being the case , UK argued , the suit instituted by Ireland was lacking in basis and should accordingly be dismissed

By its application , the Commission of the European Communities sought a declaration by the Court that , by instituting dispute-settlement proceedings against the UK and Northern Ireland under the UNICLOS Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 10 EC and 292 EC and Articles 192 EA and 193 EA . The court upheld the complaints of the commission and Ireland was accordingly ed to meet the costs of the suit . With this , the ECJ affirmed its exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and enforce Community law . Consequently , other dispute settlement bodies were rendered incompetent to solve disagreements pitting Member States

BACKGROUND

The dispute between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom arose from the activities of the MOX plant . The British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL ) runs the MOX and THORP plants located at Sellafield in UK on the north coast of the Irish Sea . The MOX plant specializes in production of mixed oxide fuel , or MOX , for use as an energy source in nuclear power stations . In doing this , plutonium dioxide and uranium dioxide are combined . These materials are obtained from spent nuclear fuel obtained from nuclear reactors in the UK and other countries and reprocessed by the THORP plant

The Irish Sea , a mass of water straddling the b between Ireland and the UK , is an extremely important resource for Ireland which depends on it for , inter alia , fishing , renewable energy , transport and recreation . Sea-related tourism provides employment for an estimated 150 ,000 people besides earning the country a lot of money . Additionally a significant percentage of the Irish population derives their livelihood from trades and businesses dependent on the Sea . In recent times , this Sea has come under intense threat from pollutants , most notably radioactive discharges . Some authorities describe it as the most radioactive sea in the world . This threat is exacerbated by its functional nature...