The Japan-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement of 2016 is accompanied by a “Note on Views and Understanding” reflecting the conflict of views between the two States during the six and a half years of negotiation regarding the possibility of Indian nuclear testing and its impact on the bilateral nuclear cooperation. Japan asserted that if India were to conduct a nuclear test, it would cease cooperation and terminate the cooperation agreement, while the Indian side was of the view that it would not accept its current voluntary test moratorium being transformed into a legally binding obligation. This difference of opinion resulted in the accompanying Note. After its signing, however, the two sides apparently hold different views on the legal nature of the Note. This article examines the question of how the legal nature of an international instrument is to be determined in the light of the relevant ICJ jurisprudence among others.

中文翻译：

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如何确定国际文书的法律性质：以日印核合作协定附带的说明为例

2016年《日本-印度核合作协定》附有“意见和谅解说明”，反映了两国在关于印度核试验的可能性及其对印度核试验的影响的六年半谈判中的意见冲突。双边核合作。日本断言，如果印度进行核试验，它将停止合作并终止合作协议，而印度方面则认为它不接受将目前的自愿试验暂停转变为具有法律约束力的义务。意见分歧导致了随附的注释。然而，在签署后，双方显然对票据的法律性质持有不同意见。