Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties

 

Article 7

Temporal application of the present Convention

1. Without prejudice to the application of any of the rules set forth in the
present Convention to which the effects of a succession of States would be
subject under international law independently of the Convention, the Convention
applies only in respect of a succession of States which has occurred after the
entry into force of the Convention except as may be otherwise agreed.

2. A successor State may, at the time of expressing its consent to be bound by
the present convention or at any time thereafter, make a declaration that it
will apply the provisions of the Convention in respect of its own succession of
States which has occurred before the entry into force of the Convention in
relation to any other contracting State or State Party to the Convention which
makes a declaration accepting the declaration of the successor State. Upon the
entry into force of the Convention as between the States making the declarations
or upon the making of the declaration of acceptance, whichever occurs later, the
provisions of the Convention shall apply to the effects of the succession of
States as from the date of that succession of States.

3. A successor State may at the time of signing or of expressing its
consent to be bound by the present Convention make a declaration that it will
apply the provisions of the Convention provisionally in respect of its own
succession of States which has occurred before the entry into force of the
Convention in relation to any other signatory or contracting State which makes a
declaration accepting the declaration of the successor State; upon the making of
the declaration of acceptance, those provisions shall apply provisionally to the
effects of the succession of States as between those two States as from the date
of that succession of States.

4. Any declaration made in accordance with paragraph 2 or 3 shall be contained
in a written notification communicated to the depositary, who shall inform the
Parties and the States entitled to become Parties to the present Convention of
the communication to him of that notification and of its terms.

Article 8

Agreements for the devolution of treaty obligations or rights from a
predecessor State to a successor State

1. The obligations or rights of a predecessor State under treaties in force in
respect of a territory at the date of a succession of States do not become the
obligations or rights of the successor State towards other States parties to
those treaties by reason only of the fact that the predecessor State and the
successor State have concluded an agreement providing that such obligations or
rights shall devolve upon the successor State.

2. Notwithstanding the conclusion of such an agreement, the effects of a succession
of States on treaties which, at the date of that succession of
States, were in force in respect of the territory in question are governed by
the present Convention.

Article 9

Unilateral declaration by a successor State regarding treaties of the
predecessor State

1. Obligations or rights under treaties in force in respect of a territory at
the date of a succession of States do not become the obligations or rights of
the successor State or of other States parties to those treaties by reason only
of the fact that the successor State has made a unilateral declaration providing
for the continuance in force of the treaties in respect of its territory.

[*1494] 2. In such a case, the effects of the succession of States on
treaties which, at the date of that succession of States, were in force in
respect of the territory in question are governed by the present Convention.

Article 10

Treaties providing for the participation of a successor State

1. When a treaty provides that, on the occurrence of a succession of States, a
successor State shall have the option to consider itself a party to the
treaty, it may notify its succession in respect of the treaty in conformity with
the provisions of the treaty or, failing any such provisions, in conformity with
the provisions of the present Convention.

2. If a treaty provides that, on the occurrence of a succession of States, a
successor State shall be considered as a party to the treaty, that provision
takes effects as such only if the successor State expressly accepts in writing
to be so considered.

3. In cases falling under paragraph 1 or 2, a successor State which establishes
its consent to be a party to the treaty is considered as a party from the date
of the succession of States unless the treaty otherwise provides or it is
otherwise agreed.

Article 11

Boundary regimes

A succession of States does not as such affect:

(a) a boundary established by a treaty; or

(b) obligations and rights established by a treaty and relating to the regime
of a boundary.

Article 12

Other territorial regimes

1. A succession of States does not as such affect:

(a) obligations relating to the use of any territory, or to restrictions upon
its use, established by a treaty for the benefit of any territory of a foreign
State and considered as attaching to the territories in question;

(b) rights established by a treaty for the benefit of any territory
and relating to the use, or to restrictions upon the use, of any territory of a
foreign State and considered as attaching to the territories in question.

2. A succession of States does not as such affect:

(a) obligations relating to the use of any territory, or to restrictions upon
its use, established by a treaty for the benefit of a group of States or of all
States and considered as attaching to that territory;

(b) rights established by a treaty for the benefit of a group of States or of
all States and relating to the use of any territory, or to restrictions upon its
use, and considered as attaching to that territory.

3. The provisions of the present article do not apply to treaty obligations of
the predecessor State providing for the establishment of foreign military bases
on the territory to which the succession of States relates.

Article 13

The present Convention and permanent sovereignty over natural wealth and
resources

Nothing in the present Convention shall affect the principles of
international law affirming the permanent sovereignty of every people and every
State over its natural wealth and resources.

Article 14

Questions relating to the validity of a treaty

Nothing in the present Convention shall be considered as prejudging in any
respect any question relating to the validity of a treaty.

PART II

SUCCESSION IN RESPECT OF PART OF TERRITORY

Article 15

Succession in respect of part of territory

When part of the territory of a State, or when any territory for the
international relations of which a State is responsible, not being part of the
territory of that State, becomes part of the territory of another State:

(a) treaties of the predecessor State cease to be in force in respect of the
territory to which the succession of States relates from the date of the
succession of States; and

(b) treaties of the successor State are in force in respect of the territory
to which the succession of States relates from the date of the succession of
States, unless it appears from the treaty or is otherwise established that the
application of the treaty to that territory would be incompatible with the
object and purpose of the treaty or would radically change the conditions for
its operation.

PART III

NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES

SECTION 1. GENERAL RULE

Article 16

Position in respect of the treaties of the predecessor State

A newly independent State is not bound to maintain in force, or to become a
party to, any treaty by reason only of the fact that at the date of the
succession of States the treaty was in force in respect of the territory to
which the succession of States relates.

 

Author: international