Abstract
Since the end of World War II, the number of multilateral treaties and thus also the complexity of international relations with regard to treaties have increased dramatically. Complexity and fragmentation increase even more when multilateral treaties are amended, ie changed with respect to all the States Parties, or modified, ie altered between certain States Parties only (on the terminology → Art 39 MN 1). Art 40 embodies the basic procedural rules concerning the amendment of multilateral treaties. A specific article with regard to the amendment procedure of bilateral treaties was deemed unnecessary. According to the ILC, the rules contained in Part II suffice in such cases.
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Notes
- 1.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233 para 5.
- 2.
H von Heinegg in K Ipsen Völkerrecht (2004) 164.
- 3.
S Bastid Les traités dans la vie internationale (1985) 178; K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 4.
- 4.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 35, 232 para 4; G Dahm/J Delbrück/R Wolfrum Völkerrecht Vol I/3 (2002) 665.
- 5.
Waldock [1964-I] YbILC 274 para 102.
- 6.
Sinclair 14; RD Kearney/RE Dalton The Treaty on Treaties (1970) 64 AJIL 495, 523; Villiger Art 40 MN 15; K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 7.
- 7.
Waldock III 47 et seq.
- 8.
Waldock [1964-I] YbILC 189.
- 9.
Revised Draft Articles [1966-II] YbILC 112, 119.
- 10.
Final Draft 182.
- 11.
Villiger Art 40 MN 16.
- 12.
UNCLOT I 204.
- 13.
UNCLOT II 72.
- 14.
Villiger Art 40 MN 15.
- 15.
K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 8.
- 16.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233 para 7; Aust 272; K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 6; J Klabbers Treaties, Amendment and Revision in MPEPIL (2008) MN 2; Bastid (n 3) 177.
- 17.
Aust 272.
- 18.
K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 6; WG Grewe Treaties, Revision (2000) 4 EPIL 980, 982.
- 19.
Aust 266.
- 20.
For examples, see UN Handbook on Final Clauses of Multilateral Treaties (2003) 95 et seq. Detailed analyses of the application of specific amendment clauses are provided by MJ Bowman The Multilateral Treaty Amendment Process – A Case Study (1995) 44 ICLQ 540 et seq; AI Sow La spécificité des procédures de révision des traités de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (2002) 80 Revue de droit international, des sciences diplomatiques et politiques 169 et seq.
- 21.
See eg Art 26 para 2 of the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1249 UNTS 13, according to which the UN General Assembly shall decide what to do if a States Party proposes an amendment.
- 22.
See eg Art VII of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 35 ILM 1439.
- 23.
This is the usual procedure within the IMCO, see AO Adede Amendment Procedures for Conventions with Technical Annexes: The IMCO Experience (1977) 17 VaJIL 201 et seq.
- 24.
See eg Art XIII para 4 of the 1993 Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas 2221 UNTS 120. It is interesting to note that treaties establishing international organizations often allow for majority decisions in amending the treaty, see F Kirgis Specialized Law-Making Processes in O Schachter/C Joyner (eds) United Nations Legal Order (1995) 109, 121 et seq; Bastid (n 3) 175; Grewe (n 18) 980. The specific amendment procedures for treaties establishing international organizations raise many subsequent questions, see eg JA Frowein Are There Limits to the Amendment Procedures in Treaties Constituting International Organisations? in G Hafner et al (eds) Festschrift Seidl-Hohenveldern (1998) 201 et seq; Sienho Yee The Time Limit for the Ratification of Proposed Amendments to the Constitutions of International Organizations 4 Max Planck UNYB 185 et seq.
- 25.
See eg Art 39 para 5 of the 2000 UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime 40 ILM 335.
- 26.
See eg Art 109 UN Charter providing for the convening of a revision conference in case of a revision.
- 27.
See eg Art 108 UN Charter according to which amendments are decided by the General Assembly. See also Bastid (n 3) 176 et seq.
- 28.
A different approach is taken by K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 10 according to whom only States Parties have the right to make an amendment proposal.
- 29.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233 para 8; Bastid (n 3) 177.
- 30.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233 para 9.
- 31.
Villiger Art 40 MN 5.
- 32.
Villiger Art 40 MN 6.
- 33.
Statement of Riphagen (Netherlands) UNCLOT I 204 MN 9.
- 34.
See the definitions of “contracting State” vs the definition of “party” in Art 2 para 1 lit f and g.
- 35.
K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 12; Bastid (n 3) 178.
- 36.
Villiger Art 40 MN 5.
- 37.
Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, 33 ILM 1309.
- 38.
See the concise analysis of Aust 275–276.
- 39.
Villiger Art 40 MN 7; K Ardault/Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 13, 15.
- 40.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233 para 5; Villiger Art 40 MN 7; K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 13.
- 41.
Villiger Art 40 MN 8.
- 42.
Villiger Art 40 MN 9.
- 43.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233 para 10; Villiger Art 40 MN 9; Aust 273.
- 44.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 233–234 para 10.
- 45.
Statement of Waldock UNCLOT I 204.
- 46.
Villiger Art 40 MN 9.
- 47.
RY Jenning General Course on Principles of International Law (1967) 121 RdC 323, 556.
- 48.
K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 17.
- 49.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 234 para 11; K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 19.
- 50.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 234 para 11.
- 51.
Ibid.
- 52.
Jenning (n 47) 556.
- 53.
K Ardault/D Dormoy in Corten/Klein Art 40 MN 19.
- 54.
Klabbers (n 16) MN 8.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
See Art 48 TEU para 4. The unanimity clause, however, also poses some problems, see B de Witte Treaty Revision in the European Union: Constitutional Change through International Law (2004) 35 Netherlands YIL 51 (55 et seq, 71 et seq).
- 57.
Art 108 UN Charter, according to which amendments of the Charter enter into force for all UN members when the amendments have been ratified by two thirds of them.
- 58.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 234 para 13.
- 59.
This situation seems to be quite common, see Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 234 para 12.
- 60.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 234 para 12; Aust 273.
- 61.
Statement of Waldock UNCLOT I 204.
- 62.
Final Draft, Commentary to Art 36, 234 para 13.
Selected Bibliography
J Klabbers Treaties, Amendment and Revision in MPEPIL (2008).
UN Handbook on Final Clauses of Multilateral Treaties (2003).
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Dörr, O., Schmalenbach, K. (2012). Article 40. Amendment of multilateral treaties. 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_43
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