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Maritime Boundary Ofce
Council for the Final Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries
Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
e: [email protected] tel: +670 7742 5544
FACT
SHEET
2016
TIMOR-LESTE AND ITS
MARITIME BOUNDARIES
Timor-Leste seeks to delimit permanent
maritime boundaries according to
international law, including the 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS).
At present, Timor-Leste does not have any permanent
maritime boundaries with either of its two neighbours:
Indonesia and Australia.
Maritime boundaries are a matter of sovereignty for the
people of Timor-Leste.
PROGRESS WITH INDONESIA
• In 2015, Timor-Leste commenced discussions with
Indonesia on maritime boundaries. Indonesia and
Timor-Leste have committed to negotiating a permanent
maritime boundary according to international law.
• Timor-Leste respects the condentiality of this ongoing
negotiation process.
WITHDRAWALS AND REFUSALS FROM AUSTRALIA
• Timor-Leste has no direct means to delimit a maritime
boundary with Australia because:
– In March 2002, two months before Timor-Leste’s
restoration of independence, Australia withdrew
from the compulsory dispute settlement procedures
related to maritime boundaries under UNCLOS, which
excludes the possibility of any court or tribunal
decision on maritime boundaries, and
– Australia also refuses to negotiate permanent maritime
boundaries on a bilateral basis.
THE TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENTS WITH AUSTRALIA
• Australia and Timor-Leste have entered into three
provisional revenue-sharing treaties regarding oil and
gas resources in the Timor Sea. These treaties do not
set permanent maritime boundaries and expressly
state they are without prejudice to either countries’
rights concerning the nal delimitation of their maritime
boundaries.
• The treaties give Australia far more rights than what it is
entitled to under international law.
• The 2002 Timor Sea Treaty was signed on the very rst
day of Timor-Leste’s restoration of independence, 20
May 2002, and largely continued the 1989 Timor Gap
Treaty which Australia negotiated with Indonesia during
the occupation.
• Timor-Leste is currently disputing the validity of
the 2006 CMATS Treaty at the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at The Hague after obtaining evidence of
alleged Australian espionage during the negotiations
which led to the 2006 treaty.
INTERNATIONAL LAW IS THE ‘EQUIDISTANCE / RELEVANT
CIRCUMSTANCES APPROACH’
• UNCLOS requires a maritime boundary delimitation to
achieve “an equitable solution” and further, that States
shall not “jeopardise or hamper the reaching of the nal
[maritime boundary] agreement.”
• For States with overlapping claims (like Timor-Leste
with its two neighbours), international courts and
tribunals, notably the International Court of Justice,
have rened and now entrenched the ‘equidistance /
relevant circumstances approach’ to maritime boundary
delimitation under UNCLOS and customary international
law (see, for example, The Black Sea Case (2009)).
• The approach typically starts by drawing a provisional
equidistance line between two countries. The second
step is to adjust that line to take account of ‘relevant
circumstances’, such as the presence of islands, the
effect of concave or convex coasts and the disparity
in coast lengths. The nal step is to apply a non-
disproportionality test.
• Drawing the provisional equidistance line is therefore
just the rst step in a three-step process.
• Under international law, the ‘equidistance / relevant
circumstances approach’ would apply to all of Timor-
Leste’s maritime boundaries.
Map of what a maritime boundary would look like using equidistance / relevant
circumstances approach under international law.