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Agreement on Maritime Delimitation Between the Government of the Cook Islands and the Government of the French Republic [1990] PITSE 4 (3 August 1990)

AGREEMENT ON MARITIME DELIMITATION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COOK ISLANDS AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

(Rarotonga, 3 August 1990)

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 3 AUGUST 1990

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COOK ISLANDS AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

DESIROUS of strengthening the bonds of neighbourliness and friendship between the two States,

RECOGNIZING the need to effect a precise and equitable delimitation of the respective maritime areas in which the two States exercise sovereign rights,

BASING themselves on the rules and principles of relevant international law, as they are expressed in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

1. The line of delimitation of maritime areas between the Cook Islands and the French Republic is the line which lies along the loxodromes connecting the points defined by their co-ordinates as follows:

Longitude West Latitude South

2. This line is approximately equidistant between the Cook Islands and the French Republic of French Polynesia.

3. The geographic co-ordinates aforementioned are expressed in the WGS 84 (World Geodesic System 1984).

4. The line described above is shown on the chart annexed to this Agreement.

[The chart has never been annexed to the Agreement]

Article 2

The line described in article 1 of this Agreement shall be the maritime boundary between the areas referred to in the said article 1 in which the Parties exercise, or will exercise, in accordance with international law, any sovereign rights or jurisdiction.

Article 3

If new surveys or resulting charts and maps should indicate that changes in the base points co-ordinates are sufficiently significant to require adjustments of the maritime boundary, the Parties agree that an adjustment will be carried out on the basis of the same principles as those used in determining the maritime boundary, and such adjustments shall be provided for in a Protocol to this Agreement.

Article 4

Any dispute arising between the Parties with respect to the interpretation or the application of this Agreement shall be resolved by peaceful means, in accordance with international law.

Article 5

This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of its signature.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the representatives of the two Governments, being duly authorized for this purpose, have signed this Agreement.

DONE at Rarotonga the 3rd day of August 1990 in two originals, each in the English and French languages, the two texts being equally authoritative.