Final arguments from the defence and prosecution were heard in mid-July, and the world court is now considering its judgment. At issue is Japan's right to conduct its seasonal "scientific" whaling program in Antarctic waters. But the case has involved arguments about how to define science itself.
The legal challenge to Japan has been brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague by Australia, which has asked the Netherlands-based court to find that Japan's whaling program is illegal because it is actually commercial whaling — not scientific research that is permissable under the 1982 moratorium on commercial whaling declared by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which went into effect in the 1985/86 coastal and pelagic hunting seasons.
On June 1, 2010, Australia initiated proceedings at the ICJ against Japan, alleging breach of international obligations concerning whaling.