Abstract
Article 26 is the first of two articles in the Final Clauses dealing mainly with the modalities and procedures relating to becoming a Party to the Convention. While the following Article 27 is concerned with States not members of UNESCO (para. 1), with territories not or not yet fully equivalent to States (para. 2), and with regional economic integration organizations (para. 3), such as the European Union, Article 26 lays down the rules applicable to Member States of UNESCO exclusively.
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Notes
- 1.
See comment on Article 27 by Anja Eikermann/Johannes Jürging.
- 2.
See comment on Article 32 by Heidrun Groß.
- 3.
With some exceptions, notably the accession clause for non-UNESCO Members, territories and regional organizations, now Article 27; see below and respective comment by Anja Eikermann/Johannes Jürging for details.
- 4.
See UNESCO Doc. CLT/CPD/2004/603/5 of 23 June 2004, p. 10.
- 5.
Thus reading “This Convention shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by Member States of UNESCO […]”.
- 6.
UNESCO Doc. CLT-2004/CONF.201/9 of November 2004, p. 3.
- 7.
UNESCO Doc. CLT/CPD/2004/CONF.607/2 of December 2004, p. 15.
- 8.
UNESCO Doc. CLT/CPD/2004/CONF.607/2 of December 2004, p. 15; UNESCO Doc. CLT/CPD/2004/CONF.607/6 of 23 December 2004, p. 99 also shows that the article in relation to which deletion was proposed was (then) Article 26, dealing with accession.
- 9.
The discussion concerning accession largely centered on the question of the accessibility of the Convention for the European Community (now European Union), see comment on Article 27 by Anja Eikermann/Johannes Jürging for details.
- 10.
UNESCO (2005). Oral report of the Rapporteur, Mr Artur Wilczynski at the closing of the third session of the Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts on the Draft Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions. http://www.unesco.org/culture/culturaldiversity/docs_pre_2007/oral_report_wilczynski_en_03062005.pdf, p. 9.
- 11.
For the applicability of the VCLT see comment on Article 20 by Peter-Tobias Stoll.
- 12.
UNESCO. Model instrument of ratification. http://www.unesco.org/culture/culturaldiversity/Model_instrument_of_ratification_EN.pdf.
- 13.
Villiger, M. E. (2009). Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 211, N. 14; similarly, i.a.: Aust, A. (2007). Handbook of international law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 64.
- 14.
UN (2003). Final clauses of multilateral treaties. Handbook. http://treaties.un.org/doc/source/publications/FC/English.pdf, p. 36.
- 15.
Article 14 para. 1 VCLT.
- 16.
Inter alia, see the so-called Waldock Report I: UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, p. 48.
- 17.
Although signature is not a legally necessary element of the treaty-making process, it usually precedes ratification; see also below, Sect. 3.1.4 of this comment.
- 18.
State Parties can normally also choose to not require ratification or any other respective additional act at all and let the treaty become legally binding through signature alone. This is frequently done with treaties or other international instruments of lesser importance, often dependent on national directives as well.
- 19.
See below, Sect. 3.3 of this comment. It is important to note at this point that, while the legal diction of many States uses the word ratification for both the public international and national process, these are entirely separate. Ratification of an international convention, such as here, refers exclusively to the international act of accepting the treaty as legally binding.
- 20.
Unless the treaty itself provides otherwise, or the treaty has been concluded within a legal framework which imposes such an obligation to ratify on its members—this is by some authors referred to as “treaty-making with strings attached”, and often the ILO’s treaty-making procedures are mentioned in this regard. See: Alvarez, J. E. (2005). International organizations as law-makers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 5.3.4.
- 21.
Which is only limited by the provisions of Article 18 VCLT.
- 22.
Article 14 para. 2 VCLT.
- 23.
UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, p. 59.
- 24.
UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, p. 60.
- 25.
UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, p. 59.
- 26.
UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, pp. 59 et seq.
- 27.
Schweitzer, M., & Weber, A.(2004). Handbuch der Völkerrechtspraxis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Baden-Baden: Nomos-Verlag, p. 62.
- 28.
For accession, see below, Sect. 3.1.4 of this comment.
- 29.
UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, p. 60.
- 30.
For these and other similar comments, see Wetzel, R. G., & Rauschning, D. (1978). The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Travaux preparatoires. Die Wiener Vertragsrechtskonvention. Materialien zur Entstehung der einzelnen Vorschriften. Frankfurt am Main: Alfred Metzner Verlag, Article 2.
- 31.
Article 15 VCLT.
- 32.
UN (1962). First report on the law of treaties by Sir Humphrey Waldock, Special Rapporteur. UN Doc. A/CN.4/144 of 26 March 1962, p. 54.
- 33.
Informative examples of various formulas for accession in different treaties can be found in: UN (2003). Final clauses of multilateral treaties. Handbook. http://treaties.un.org/doc/source/publications/FC/English.pdf, pp. 37–41.
- 34.
Aust, A. (2007). Modern treaty law and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 24.
- 35.
Villiger, M. E. (2009). Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 209, N. 7; the UN Handbook on Final Clauses disagrees in this respect, stating that “ratification, acceptance and approval […] must be preceded by signature”—see UN (2003). Final clauses of multilateral treaties. Handbook. http://treaties.un.org/doc/source/publications/FC/English.pdf, pp. 37 et seq.
- 36.
The amendment was proposed on 31 May 2005, the complete text read as follows: “New Article. Signature. This Convention shall be open for signature by all States and [regional economic integration organizations] at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris for one year from the date of its adoption”. The amendment was handed out to delegates during the third session of the Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts and is on file, inter alia, at the UNESCO Chair of International Relations, TU Dresden, Germany.
- 37.
See above, Sect. 2 of this comment.
- 38.
For States which are not Members of UNESCO, but Members of the UN or one of its specialized agencies, Article 27 para. 1 of the Convention states that accession constitutes the only method of becoming a State Party to the Convention. A previous invitation to accede by the General Conference of UNESCO is necessary.
- 39.
See comments on the process below, Sect. 4 of this comment.
- 40.
Klabbers, J. (2002). An introduction to international institutional law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 220.
- 41.
The VCLT does not define the term signature. For comments on its legal functions, see, i.a., Villiger, M. E. (2009). Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, pp. 187–188, N. 6.
- 42.
Liechtenstein is a Member State of the UN, but not of UNESCO. In October 2011, despite its contentious status as a State, Palestine was admitted to UNESCO, and has ratified the Convention on 8 December 2011.
- 43.
See comment on Article 34 by Anna Steinkamp.
- 44.
See the discussion in the German Bundestag: Deutscher Bundestag (2006). Plenarprotokoll 16/37. Stenografischer Bericht 37. Sitzung Berlin, Donnerstag, den 1. Juni 2006. http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btp/16/16037.pdf, pp. 3384 et seq.
- 45.
The various variants of monism and dualism have been examined excessively in literature. For a recent discussion of these legal figures and their relevance today, in relation to the German constitutional law, see: Fastenrath, U., & Groh, T. (2009). Artikel 59. In Friauf, H., & Höfling, W. (Eds), Berliner Kommentar zum Grundgesetz. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.
- 46.
Aust, A. (2007). Modern treaty law and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 103.
- 47.
With certain variations where appropriate; in Article XI para. 9 of the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (1997) (CRQHEER), for example, the Director-General of UNESCO and the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe both serve as depositories alongside each other.
- 48.
Rules of Procedure Concerning Recommendations to Member States and International Conventions Covered by the Terms of Article IV, paragraph 4, of the Constitution. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21681%26URL_DO=DO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION=201.html.
- 49.
The United States of America and Israel voted against the Convention. The proceedings of the 33rd session of the UNESCO General Conference can be found in: UNESCO (2007). Records of the General Conference, 33rd session, Paris 3–21 October 2005. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001428/142825e.pdf, beginning with item 8.3 on p. 504.
- 50.
Compare, for example, the International Convention against Doping in Sport (2005) (ICDS), the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) (CSICH), or the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001) (CPUH) which also do not include a signature clause.
- 51.
Numbers have been extracted from a statistical overview prepared by UNESCO: http://portal.unesco.org/la/convention.asp?KO=31038%26language=E. The EC has acceded to the Convention pursuant to Article 27. See comment on Article 27 by Anja Eikermann/Johannes Jürging.
- 52.
Decrét n° 2007-376 du 20 mars 2007 portant publication de la convention sur la protection et la promotion de la diversité des expressions culturelles, adoptée le 20 octobre 2005 à Paris. http://textes.droit.org/JORF/2007/03/22/0069/0016/. The author would like to thank Dr. Thomas Groh, Technical University of Dresden, for his sympathetic help with discovering this interesting piece of state practice.
Reference
Alvarez, J. E. (2005). International organizations as law-makers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aust, A. (2007a). Handbook of international law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Aust, A. (2007b). Modern treaty law and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fastenrath, U., & Groh, T. (2009). Artikel 59. In H. Friauf & W. Höfling (Eds.), Berliner Kommentar zum Grundgesetz. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.
Klabbers, J. (2002). An introduction to international institutional law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schweitzer, M., & Weber, A. (2004). Handbuch der Völkerrechtspraxis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
UN. (2003). Final clauses of multilateral treaties. Handbook. http://treaties.un.org/doc/source/publications/FC/English.pdf.
Villiger, M. E. (2009). Commentary on the 1969 Vienna convention on the law of treaties. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.
Wetzel, R. G., & Rauschning, D. (1978). The Vienna convention on the law of treaties. Travaux preparatoires. Die Wiener Vertragsrechtskonvention. Materialien zur Entstehung der einzelnen Vorschriften. Frankfurt am Main: Alfred Metzner.
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Roeder, T. (2012). Article 26: Ratification, Acceptance, Approval or Accession by Member States. In: von Schorlemer, S., Stoll, PT. (eds) The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25995-1_28
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