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III. The International Court of Justice
3. THE PROCEDURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
3.9. Relevant Facts

¤ Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 11 June 1998
in the Case concerning the Land and Maritime Boundary
between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria),
Preliminary Objections (Nigeria v. Cameroon),
Judgment of 25 March 1999, I.C.J. Reports 1999, p. 31

[p. 38] The Court wishes to reiterate that the question of the conditions for the admissibility of an application at the time of its introduction, and the question of the admissibility of the presentation of additional facts and legal grounds, are two different things. The Court indicated, in its Judgment of 11 June 1998, that the limit of the freedom to present additional facts and legal considerations is that there must be no transformation of the dispute brought before the Court by the application into another dispute which is different in character. Whether that is the case ultimately has to be decided by the Court in each individual case in which the question arises. With regard to Nigeria's sixth preliminary objection, the Judgment of 11 June 1998 has concluded that "[i]n this case, Cameroon has not so transformed the dispute" (ibid., p. 319, para. 100) and that Cameroon's Application met the requirements of Article 38 of the Rules. Thus, the Court made no distinction between "incidents" and "facts" ; it found that additional incidents constitute additional facts, and that their introduction in proceedings before the Court is governed by the same rules. In this respect, there is no need for the Court to stress that it has and will strictly apply the principle of audi alteram partem.