On 30 June 2017, Malaysia filed an Application requesting interpretation of the Judgment delivered by the Court on 23 May 2008 in the case concerning Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore). In that Judgment, the Court had found that (1) sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh belongs to the Republic of Singapore; (2) sovereignty over Middle Rocks belongs to Malaysia; and (3) sovereignty over South Ledge belongs to the State in the territorial waters of which it is located.

Malaysia’s Application, which is based on Article 60 of the Statute, seeks revision of the Court’s finding concerning sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, arguing that “Malaysia and Singapore have attempted to implement the 2008 Judgment through co-operative processes”. To that end, they established a Joint Technical Committee, which was, inter alia, tasked with addressing “the delimitation of the maritime boundaries between the territorial waters of both countries”. According to Malaysia, that Committee reached an impasse in November 2013. Malaysia asserts that “[o]ne reason [for] this impasse is that the parties have been unable to agree over the meaning of the 2008 Judgment as it concerns South Ledge and the waters surrounding Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh”.

More particularly, Malaysia indicates in its Application that: “[t]he parties have been unable to agree on the meaning and/or scope of the following two points of the 2008 Judgment:
(1) the Court’s finding that ‘sovereignty over Pedra Branda/Pulau Batu Puteh belongs to Singapore’[;] and
(2) the Court’s finding that ‘sovereignty over South Ledge belongs to the State in the territorial waters of which it is located’”.

In a letter dated 28 May 2018, the Co-Agent of Malaysia notified the Court that the Parties had agreed to discontinue the proceedings in the case. A copy of that letter was communicated to the Agent of Singapore who, by a letter dated 29 May 2018, confirmed his Government’s agreement to the discontinuance of the proceedings.

On 29 May 2018, the Court made an Order recording the discontinuance, following the agreement of the Parties, of the proceedings instituted on 30 June 2017 by Malaysia against Singapore, and directed the removal of the case from the Court’s List.