Procedural law of the International Court of Justice: provisional measures (part 2)

Through the use of provisional measures the Court seeks to preserve rights contested in the main proceedings; it therefore must be satisfied that these rights are at least plausible. As provisional measures are indicated in order to preserve the rights of the parties, a link must exist between the requested measures and the rights which form the subject of the proceedings. Provisional measures may be indicated only if there is a risk of irreparable prejudice to the rights of the parties and if this risk is real and imminent. The Court also has the power to indicate provisional measures to prevent the aggravation or extension of a dispute whenever the circumstances so require and provided that it indicates measures to preserve specific rights. At the request of a party, the Court may revoke or modify any decision concerning provisional measures if such revocation or modification is justified by some change in the situation which was the basis for the indication of provisional measures.

About the author: Sergey Punzhin – Ph.D. (Law), First Secretary of the Court Registry, International Court of Justice.

Citation: Punzhin S. (2016) Protsessual'noe pravo Mezhdunarodnogo Suda OON: vremennye mery (chast' 2) [Procedural law of the International Court of Justice: provisional measures (part 2)]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, no.1, pp.37–58.