Art. 3 Verdrag tussen het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden en het Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland inzake de exploitatie van het Sillimanite-veld — Rights and Obligations of the Parties

1. Before production of gas from the Sillimanite Field is scheduled to commence, the Unit Operator needs approval of each Party or their relevant Competent Authority for the measurement systems used to determine the quantities and value of gas won and saved from the Sillimanite Field. Each Party or their relevant Competent Authority shall require its Licensees to provide access to relevant information including design and operational details of all systems relevant to the measurement of gas originating from the Sillimanite Field to that Party or its relevant Competent Authority. The inspectors of the Parties or their Competent Authority shall have the right to inspect the relevant measurement systems to ensure that their interests are safeguarded. An inspector of the United Kingdom or the Competent Authority, who shall be accompanied by an inspector of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, shall be given access in due time to measuring systems for gas originating from the Sillimanite Field. The United Kingdom or its Competent Authority shall inform the Kingdom of the Netherlands about the names of the inspectors of the United Kingdom who will inspect the measuring systems. 2. The Parties shall ensure a free flow of information between them and their Competent Authority about matters relating to the exploitation of the Sillimanite Field. 3. The Parties shall consult, at the request of either of them, on any matter relating to the interpretation, application or operation of this Agreement, including any unreasonable delay in giving approval under Article 2(2), Article 2(3), Article 2(4) or Article 3(4). 4. The Parties shall also consult or ensure that their relevant Competent Authority consults, at the request of either of them, in the event that it is proposed that a permanent installation for the exploitation of the Sillimanite Field shall be placed on the Continental Shelf appertaining to the United Kingdom, and shall jointly agree or arrange the extent to which the provisions of this Agreement shall apply in that event. Both Parties shall be informed or ensure that their relevant Competent Authority is informed by the Unit Operator of the exact position of any installations used for the exploitation of the Sillimanite Field and shall ensure that no installation shall be placed within 125 meters of the maritime boundary between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, except with the agreement of both Parties. 5. The Parties recognise that the exploitation and transmission of gas other than gas from the Sillimanite Field is a legitimate use of the Sillimanite infrastructure. The Parties shall also therefore consult or ensure that their relevant Competent Authority consults, at the request of either of them, in the event that one of them considers that an area of the continental shelf lying outside the Sillimanite Field would appropriately be exploited in an integrated manner together with the Sillimanite Field, and shall jointly seek to agree on appropriate amendments to this Agreement in that event. Neither Party shall permit such integrated exploitation or transmission unless the respective tax authorities of the two Governments have reached agreement regarding the taxation of the profits and gains arising from the use of the Sillimanite Field’s infrastructure in respect of such integrated exploitation and transmission. 6. The Competent Authorities of the Parties may jointly enter into technical or administrative arrangements relating to the implementation of this Agreement or otherwise in connection with the exploitation of the Sillimanite Field. 7. The Parties shall in the first instance seek to resolve any disputes about the interpretation, application or operation of this Agreement through consultation in accordance with paragraph (3) above, but if the dispute cannot be resolved in this manner the dispute shall be submitted at the request of either Party, to an Arbitral Tribunal composed as follows: Each Party shall designate one arbitrator, and the two arbitrators so designated shall elect a third, who shall be the Chairman and who shall not be a national of or habitually reside in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or the Kingdom of the Netherlands. If either Party fails to designate an arbitrator within three months of a request to do so, either Party may request the President of the International Court of Justice to appoint an arbitrator. The same procedure shall apply if, within one month of the designation or appointment of the second arbitrator, the third arbitrator has not been elected. The Tribunal shall determine its own procedure, save that all decisions shall be taken, in the absence of unanimity, by majority vote of the members of the Tribunal. The decisions of the Tribunal shall be final and binding upon the Parties. 8. Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as affecting the jurisdiction which each Party has under international law over the Continental Shelf which appertains to it. In particular, any part of the Sillimanite Field located on the Continental Shelf appertaining to the United Kingdom shall be under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom and any part of the Sillimanite Field located on the Continental Shelf appertaining to the Kingdom of the Netherlands shall be under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 9. Apart from the Article 2(5), nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as prejudicing or restricting the application of the laws of either Party, in conformity with international law. 10. Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as prejudicing or restricting the exercise of jurisdiction by the courts of either Party, in conformity with international law.

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