result in an inequitable delimitation for the Federal Republic of Germany. On 31 March 1966, Denmark and the Netherlands concluded an agreement on the delimitation of the boundary between the other parts of what they regarded as their respective continental shelves on the basis of ―the principle of equidistancel.

This delimitation assumed that the areas claimed by the Netherlands and Denmark were conterminous and, in particular, that the agreed boundaries between the Federal Republic of Germany and Denmark, and the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands were necessarily delimited on the basis of the principle of equidistance. On 2 February 1967, the Federal Republic of Germany and Denmark, and the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands signed two special agreements for the submission of the disputes betweenthem concerning the delimitation of their continental shelf boundaries in the North Sea to the International Court of Justice. The Special Agreements further stated that the respective Governments should delimit the continental shelf in the North Sea between their countries by Agreement in pursuance of the decision requested from the International Court of Justice.

Issue: Whether the Geneva Convention (Article 6 of the 1958 Continental Shelf Convention) is binding on a state which has not ratified it?

Decision: The Court found that the Geneva Convention is not binding on Germany, as it did not ratify it

Reasoning: Under the formal provisions of the Convention, it was in force for any individual State that had signed it within the time-limit provided, only if that State had also subsequently ratified it. Denmark and