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belonged to Ukraine, Ukraine accepted the delimitation principles laid down by the Additional Agreement for reaching an equitable solution to the delimitation. In particular, according to Romania, Ukraine accepted the applicability of Article 121, paragraph 3, of UNCLOS in the delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones, as interpreted by Romania when signing and ratifying it. The relevant part of its declaration reads as follows: “3. Romania states that according to the requirements of equity ⎯ as it results from Articles 74 and 83 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea ⎯ the uninhabited islands without economic life can in no way affect the delimitation of the maritime spaces belonging to the mainland coasts of the coastal States.” Romania contends that, under these circumstances, Ukraine’s acceptance of the reference to Article 121 as one of the principles to be applied in delimitation clearly indicates that the two States agreed in 1997 that Serpents’ Island could receive no other effect in addition to those effects already produced by it on the delimitation of the territorial seas of the two Parties.
* 36. Ukraine contends that the Court is obliged to decide disputes in accordance with international law, as laid down in Article 38, paragraph 1, of the Statute. In relation to maritime delimitation and as between the Parties to the present case, “that applicable body of rules of international law comprises principally the provisions of UNCLOS and certain specific rules which have become well established in the jurisprudence of the Court”. 37. According to Ukraine, the 1997 Additional Agreement is an international treaty binding upon the Parties, however, “its provisions do not embody an agreement which relates to the present proceedings”. The principles enunciated therein were to form the basis on which the Parties were to negotiate a delimitation agreement, but they were not agreed by the Parties as applying to the subsequent judicial proceedings. At the same time Ukraine acknowledges that some of these principles may be relevant as part of the established rules of international law which the Court will apply but not as part of any bilateral agreement. 38. Ukraine further argues that the 1949, 1963 and 1974 Procès-Verbaux and the 1997 Additional Agreement do not constitute agreements mentioned in Articles 74, paragraph 4, and 83, paragraph 4, of UNCLOS because they were not agreements delimiting the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones. 39. With regard to the declaration made by Romania with respect to Article 121 upon the signature and ratification of UNCLOS, Ukraine points out the difference between a declaration and a reservation, and states that a declaration “does not modify the legal effect of the treaty in question” and does not call for any response from the other Contracting Parties. Thus, according to Ukraine, the Court does not have to take into consideration Romania’s declaration. As Ukraine further notes, Romania claims that the reference to Article 121 of UNCLOS in the Additional