Joint Development Between Australia and Timor-Leste

Abstract

1. Australia and Indonesia signed a joint development treaty regarding the Timor Sea in 1989. As the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (hereinafter, Timor-Leste) gained independence from Indonesia in 2001, it signed a new bilateral joint development agreement with Australia in 2002 as well as a series of subsequent agreements to establish the joint development legal framework. These two cases (the agreement between Australia and Indonesia, and that between Australia and Timor-Leste) share a great similarity in the form of cooperation, legal framework, and management structure. This paper analyzes the legal arrangement regarding common issues generally included in the joint development, and outlines relevant problems in its implementation. 2. The form of the agreement comprises three kinds of legal instruments reached in different periods. The basic form is the bilateral treaty to establish an overall framework for joint development. The second is the subsequent agreement to make revisions and adjustments to specific legal issues, such as cross-boundary deposits and the allocation ratio in a specific zone. The third refers to regulations and guidelines to deal with issues related to implementation and operation, which may be regarded as special laws dealing with the joint development zone.