Abstract
Art 11 introduces a central subject of the law of treaties, namely the consent to be bound. It recalls the freedom of States under international law to conclude treaties or not. That flows from their sovereignty, as underlined in the ‘Wimbledon’ judgement of the PCIJ. Only if they express their consent to be bound, can they be subject to a treaty. In return, treaties to which they have not consented cannot create rights and obligations for them (Art 34). Exceptionally, consent to be bound is irrelevant for the conclusion of a treaty, namely when the latter violates a norm of ius cogens (Art 3).
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Notes
- 1.
PCIJ SS ‘Wimbledon’ PCIJ Ser A No 1, 25 (1923). When referring to Art 380 Treaty of Versailles, according to which the Kiel Canal was to be maintained free and open to all vessels of commerce and of war for all nations at peace with Germany on terms of entire equality, the Court said: “No doubt any convention creating an obligation of this kind places a restriction upon the exercise of the sovereign rights of the States, in the sense that it requires them to be exercised in a certain way. But the right of entering into international engagement is an attribute of States sovereignty.”
- 2.
Reuter 67 para 92.
- 3.
A Bolintineanu Expression of Consent to Be Bound by a Treaty in the Light of the 1969 Vienna Convention (1974) 68 AJIL 672, 673.
- 4.
ICJ Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea intervening) [2002] ICJ Rep 303, para 264 (emphasis added).
- 5.
PCIJ Territorial Jurisdiction of the International Commission of the River Oder PCIJ Ser A No 23, 20 (1929).
- 6.
Harvard Draft 756.
- 7.
Ibid 763.
- 8.
F Dehousse La ratification des traités (1935) 83–107.
- 9.
McNair 139.
- 10.
G Fitzmaurice Do Treaties Need Ratification? (1934) 15 BYIL 113, 129.
- 11.
H Blix The Requirement of Ratification (1953) 30 BYIL 352, 380: “it would appear […] that the following rule emerges, namely that treaties enter into force in accordance with the parties’ express or clearly implied intentions, or, in case of doubt, by signature.”
- 12.
M Frankowska De la prétendue présomption en faveur de la ratification (1969) 73 RGDIP 62, 78–81.
- 13.
[1962-II] YbILC 157, 180 et seq.
- 14.
Final Draft, Commentary to Draft Art 11, 204 para 7.
- 15.
For an account of the discussions on the residual rule, see Bolintineanu (n 3) 676–677.
- 16.
Sinclair 41.
- 17.
Ibid 39.
- 18.
UN Doc A/CONF.39/C.1/L.88 and Add.1, UNCLOT III 124. The text of the proposed Art 9 bis later became Art 11 VCLT.
- 19.
UNCLOT III 267. Belgium’s proposed Art 12 bis on other means of expressing consent to be bound by a treaty stated: “in addition to the cases dealt with in articles 10, 11 and 12, the consent to be bound by a treaty may be expressed by any other method agreed upon between the contracting States”.
- 20.
Villiger Art 11 MN 13.
- 21.
M Fitzmaurice Expression of Consent to be Bound by a Treaty as Developed in Certain Environmental Treaties in J Klabbers/R Lefeber (eds) Festschrift Vierdag (1998) 59, 64.
- 22.
Trade Agreement between the United States and the Philippines 43 UNTS 136, 156. A similar clause was included in Art XVIII of the 1942 US-Mexican trade agreement 13 UNTS 231, 248.
- 23.
UNTS 5, 7.
- 24.
I Detter Essays on the Law of Treaties (1967) 29.
- 25.
Aust 80.
- 26.
ICJ Aegean Sea Continental Shelf (Greece v Turkey) [1978] ICJ Rep 3, para 96.
- 27.
M Koskenniemi Introductory Note to the ICJ Order to Discontinue the Proceedings in Case Concerning Passage through the Great Belt (Finland v Denmark) (1993) 32 ILM, 101, 103.
- 28.
Press Release No 192 of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 4 September 1992, reprinted in (1992) 3 FinnYIL 610.
- 29.
ICJ Passage through the Great Belt (Finland v Denmark) (Order of 10 September 1992) [1992] ICJ Rep 348.
- 30.
Detter (n 24) 26: “No international lawyer would deny that an agreement on armistice or on a brief truce can be concluded by displaying a white flag in war with a following act of acceptance of the other party.” Similarly J Barberis Le concept de traité international et ses limites (1984) 30 AFDI 239, 250.
- 31.
http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/dayton/52599.htm (last visited 6 January 2011).
- 32.
Aust 113.
- 33.
European Council – Presidency Conclusions (Edinburgh, 11–12 December 1992), SN 456/92 Part A. Brussels: Council of the European Communities, December 1992, 6.
- 34.
Aust 24
- 35.
European Council - Presidency Conclusions (Brussels, 18–19 June 2009), para 5 (iii), http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/108622.pdf.
- 36.
For an overview, see R Churchill/G Ulfstein Autonomous Institutional Arrangements in Multilateral Environmental Agreements: A Little-Noticed Phenomenon in International Law (2000) 94 AJIL 623–659 and C Redgwell Multilateral Environmental Treaty-Making in V Gowlland-Debbas (ed) Multilateral Treaty-Making (2000) 89–110.
- 37.
M Fitzmaurice Consent to Be Bound – Anything New Under the Sun? (2005) 74 Nordic JIL 483, 488.
- 38.
Art 22 of the 1945 Constitution of the World Health Organization 14 UNTS 186.
- 39.
Art 54 para 1, Art 90 lit a and Art 38 of the 1944 Chicago Convention 15 UNTS 295. See generally T Buergenthal Law-Making in the International Civil Aviation Organization (1969).
- 40.
Fitzmaurice (n 37) 490.
- 41.
J Sommer Environmental Law-Making by International Organisations (1996) 56 ZaöRV 628, 635.
- 42.
Art 2 of the 1983 Additional Protocol to the European Agreement on the Exchange of Therapeutical Substances of Human Origin ETS 109; Art 2 of the 1983 Additional Protocol to the European Agreement on the Temporary Importation, Free of Duty, of Medical, Surgical and Laboratory Equipment for Use on Free Loan in Hospitals and Other Medical Institutions for Purposes of Diagnosis or Therapy ETS 110; Art 2 of the 1983 Additional Protocol to the European Agreement on the Exchanges of Blood-Grouping Re-agents ETS 111.
- 43.
For an account of the discussions preceding the adoption of Additional Protocols, see P-H Imbert Le consentement des États en droit international – réflexions à partir d’un cas pratique concernant la participation de la CEE aux traités du Conseil de l’Europe (1985) 89 RGDIP 353, 359–374.
- 44.
See for example Art 2 para 9 of the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1989) 26 ILM 1550.
- 45.
See for example Art XIII lit b of the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) 1184 UNTS 2, allowing the approval of amendments by majority, which then become binding on all SOLAS parties.
- 46.
Sommer (n 41) 653 characterizing the adjustment procedure under the Montreal Protocol as vesting legislative power into the Conference of Parties, which in her view is a “treaty-management organisation” (ibid 631). However, see Fitzmaurice (n 37) 502, finding the mechanism to adopt amendments by majority voting with legal effect on the dissenters “new and unusual”.
- 47.
However, see Fitzmaurice (n 21) 79 for the opposite proposition.
- 48.
S Szurek in Corten/Klein Art 11 MN 21–22.
Selected Bibliography
J Basdevant La conclusion et la rédaction des traités et instruments diplomatiques autres que les traités (1926)15 RdC 539–642.
S Bastid Les traités dans la vie internationale – conclusion et effets (1985).
H Blix The Requirement of Ratification (1953) 30 BYIL 352–380.
A Bolintineanu Expression of Consent to be Bound by a Treaty in the Light of the 1969 Vienna Convention (1974) 68 AJIL 672–686.
M Fitzmaurice Expression of Consent to be Bound by a Treaty as Developed in Certain Environmental Treaties in J Klabbers/R Lefeber (eds) Festschrift Vierdag (1998) 59– 80.
Id Consent to Be Bound – Anything New Under the Sun? (2005) 74 Nordic JIL 483–508.
M Frankowska De la prétendue présomption en faveur de la ratification (1969) 73 RGDIP 62–88.
P-H Imbert Le consentement des États en droit international – réflexions à partir d’un cas pratique concernant la participation de la CEE aux traités du Conseil de l’Europe (1985) 89 RGDIP 353–382.
JM Jones Full Powers and Ratification (1946).
S Rosenne Treaties, Conclusion and Entry into Force (1984) 7 EPIL 464–467.
J Sommer Environmental Law-Making by International Organisations (1996) 56 ZaöRV 628–667.
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Dörr, O., Schmalenbach, K. (2012). Article 11. Means of expressing consent to be bound by a treaty. In: Dörr, O., Schmalenbach, K. (eds) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19291-3_13
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