Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand Intervening)

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling created the International Whaling Commission, which imposed a general moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, with exceptions for aboriginal-subsistence whaling and scientific-research licenses; Japan (defendant) cast the only vote against the moratorium and continued lethal whaling under its JARPA II program, invoking the scientific-research exception. Australia (plaintiff) sued, arguing JARPA II violated the moratorium because it was not genuinely for scientific research, and the parties disputed how to interpret the treaty's preamble and Article VIII.

Whether an international treaty should be interpreted in accordance with the ordinary meaning of its terms and in light of its object and purpose, and whether Japan's whaling program satisfied the treaty's scientific-research exception under that standard.