The Iron Rhine (IJzeren Rijn) Arbitration (Belgium-Netherlands): Award of 2005

The Iron Rhine Arbitration (or Jzeren Rijn as it is known in Dutch) decided, in 2005, a dispute between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom of the Netherlands concerning the reactivation of the Iron Rhine railway linking the port of Antwerp, Belgium, to the Rhine Basin in Germany across certain parts of Dutch territory. The Arbitral Tribunal was called upon to interpret nineteenth-century treaties, which granted certain rights to Belgium on the territory of the Netherlands, and to consider the entitlement of the Netherlands to insist on conditions specified under Dutch law, particularly with respect to environmental protection, for reactivation of the railway. This unique bilingual edition comprises the official English version of the Award, as well as a French translation. It includes an Introduction by Colin Warbrick, Professor of Public International Law at the University of Birmingham.