On June 29, 2017, an Arbitral Tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a final award on the territorial and maritime dispute between Croatia and Slovenia regarding three issues: “(a) the course of the maritime and land boundary between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia, (b) Slovenia’s junction to the High Sea and (c) the regime for the use of the relevant maritime areas.” According to the press release, the Tribunal fixed the territorial boundaries in more than twenty areas, using as their basis the cadastral boundaries that the Austrian Empire established in the 1800s for tax purpose, though they also examined “in respect of each of the disputed areas whether there are reasons for applying other criteria.” In regard to what Slovenia calls the “Bay of Piran” and Croatia calls the “Bay of Savudrija/Piran,” “Croatia ask[ed] the Tribunal to make the delimitation along a median line; Slovenia claim[ed] the whole of the Bay.” The Tribunal determined that delimitation must be based on evidence from the date of independence in 1991 and decided on a “delimitation [that] leaves the larger part of the Bay to Slovenia.” On the question of the territorial sea, the Tribunal noted that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, “international law calls for the application of an equidistance line, unless another line is required by special circumstances.” The Tribunal determined that Cape Savudrija “produces a disproportionate adverse effect if the strict equidistance line is used” and consequently, found “that the equidistance line must be adjusted in favour of Slovenia.” In deciding on Slovenia’s “junction to the High Sea,” the Tribunal determined that “junction” meant a direct connection between Slovenia’s territorial waters and the high seas, beyond the territorial seas of Croatia and Italy. Since the tribunal found that no part of Slovenia’s waters directly overlap with an area of the “high sea,” it decided it was necessary to create a “Junction Area” in Croatia’s territorial sea “in which freedom of communications between those two zones is guaranteed.” Croatia has refused to participate in the proceedings since 2015 and has stated that it does not consider them binding.