Ponsonby Rule (United Kingdom)

It is the constitutional practice of the UK to lay all Treaties which the UK has signed subject to ratification (or its equivalent), or to which it intends to become party by accession, before both Houses of Parliament. Mixed agreements, entered into by the European Union (EU), are also laid in this way.

To give Parliament the opportunity to consider the matter, the text of any treaty requiring either the mutual notification of completion of procedures, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession must be laid before Parliament for at least 21 sitting days before any of these actions can take place. Where amendments are made to a multilateral treaty which although not subject to ratification do require legislation, these must also be laid. This procedure is known as the Ponsonby Rule . Since January 1997, Treaties subject to the Ponsonby Rule are laid before Parliament with an Explanatory Memorandum (see links below).

Laying before Parliament is in the form of a Command Paper, which is published in one of three FCO series:

country Series for bilateral treaties

Miscellaneous Series for multilateral treaties

European Community Series for treaties between Member States or between one of the Communities, with the Member States, and a non-Member State or group of States.

Since November 2000, when a Command Paper is laid under the Ponsonby Rule it is also sent, with its accompanying Explanatory Memorandum, to the relevant Department Select Committee in the House of Commons.

When a treaty enters into force for the UK (whether this is on signature or following ratification, accession etc), it is published again in the Treaty Series of Command Papers, and laid before Parliament. The earlier Command Paper is removed from the internet and the Explanatory Memorandum is then linked to the Treaty Series document.

The power to make treaties is a Prerogative power vested in the Crown. It is exercised
on the advice of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who, in
turn, consults with other Departments of Government whose responsibilities would be
engaged in executing the provisions of particular treaties. There is no constitutional
requirement for Parliament to approve a treaty, although sometimes legislation is
needed before the Government can ratify a treaty.
Since 1924 all treaties subject to ratification (with limited exceptions) have been laid
before Parliament for 21 sitting days in accordance with the Ponsonby Rule before
ratification (or its equivalent) is effected. The laying is done by means of a Command
Paper published in one of the following FCO series: country , Miscellaneous or European
Communities. Since 1997 treaties laid before Parliament in accordance with the
Ponsonby Rule have been laid together with an Explanatory Memorandum (EM). When
a treaty has entered into force for the United Kingdom (whether on signature or following
ratification etc.), it is published in the Treaty Series of Command Papers.
The Ponsonby Rule of 1924
Since March 1892, it had been the practice to present to Parliament the texts of treaties
binding the United Kingdom. This was done in a numbered series of Command Papers
known as the Treaty Series. But treaties were published in that series only after they had
entered into force for the United Kingdom, so that at that stage no Parliamentary
approval, tacit or express, could be sought or given.
On 1 April 1924, during the Second Reading Debate on the Treaty of Peace (Turkey)
Bill, Mr Arthur Ponsonby (Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Ramsay
MacDonald’s first Labour Government) made the following statement: “It is the intention
of His Majesty’s Government to lay on the table of both Houses of Parliament every
treaty, when signed, for a period of 21 days, after which the treaty will be ratified and
published and circulated in the Treaty Series. In the case of important treaties, the
Government will, of course, take an opportunity of submitting them to the House for
discussion within this period. But, as the Government cannot take upon itself to decide
what may be considered important or unimportant, if there is a formal demand for
discussion forwarded through the usual channels from the Opposition or any other party,
time will be found for the discussion of the Treaty in question.”He warned that:
“Resolutions expressing Parliamentary approval of every Treaty before ratification would
be a very cumbersome form of procedure and would burden the House with a lot of
unnecessary business. The absence of disapproval may be accepted as sanction, and
publicity and opportunity for discussion and criticism are the really material and valuable
elements which henceforth will be introduced”[H.C. Deb. (1924) 171, c. 1999-2005].
The statement responded to the demands of some of the Government’s supporters for a
Parliamentary practice that would render impossible the ‘secret Treaties and secret
clauses of Treaties’ of the kind which were then generally supposed to have helped bring
about the First World War. Since then, the practice of secret treaties has been largely
abolished by changes in diplomatic practice, reinforced in turn by specific obligations in
the Covenant of the League of Nations and then in the United Nations Charter requiring
all treaties to be deposited with the United Nations once they have entered into force,
which then publishes them in the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) published
periodically by the UN Secretariat. Moreover, many States, including the United
Kingdom, have published Treaty Series of their own. The Ponsonby Rule was withdrawn
during the subsequent Baldwin Government, but was reinstated in 1929 and gradually
hardened into a practice observed by all successive Governments.

See Application of the Ponsonby Rule – Explanatory Memoranda

Author: international