Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties

 

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Scope of the present Convention

The present Convention applies to the effects of a succession of States in
respect of treaties between States.

Article 2

Use of terms

1. For the purposes of the present Convention:

(a) “treaty” means an international agreement concluded between States in
written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single
instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular
designation;

(b) “succession of States”means the replacement of one State by another in
the responsibility for the international relations of territory;

(c) “predecessor State”means the State which has been replaced by another
State on the occurrence of a succession of States;

(d) “successor State”means the State which has replaced another State on the
occurrence of a succession of States;

(e) “date of the succession of States”means the date upon which the
successor State replaced the predecessor State in the responsibility for the
international relations of the territory to which the succession of States
relates;

(f) “newly independent State”means a successor State the territory of which
immediately before the date of the succession of States was a dependent
territory for the international relations of which the predecessor State was
responsible;

(g) “notification of succession”means in relation to a multilateral treaty
any notification, however phrased or named, made by a successor State expressing
its consent to be considered as bound by the treaty;

(h) “full powers”means in relation to a notification of succession or any
other notification under the present Convention a document emanating from the
competent authority of a State designating a person or persons to represent the
State for communicating the notification of succession or, as the case may be,
the notification;

(i) “ratification”, “acceptance”and “approval”mean in each case the
international act so named whereby a State establishes on the international
plane its consent to be bound by a treaty;

(j) “reservation”means a unilateral statement, however phrased or named,
made by a State when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a
treaty or when making a notification of succession to a treaty, whereby it
purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the
treaty in their application to that State;

(k) “contracting State”means a State which has consented to be
bound by the treaty, whether or not the treaty has entered into force;

(l) “party” means a State which has consented to be bound by the treaty and
for which the treaty is in force;

(m) “other State party” means in relation to a successor State any party,
other than the predecessor State, to a treaty in force at the date of a
succession of States in respect of the territory to which that succession of
States relates;

(n) “international organization”means an intergovernmental organization.

2. The provisions of paragraph 1 regarding the use of terms in the present
Convention are without prejudice to the use of those terms or to the meanings
which may be given to them in the internal law of any State.

Article 3

Cases not within the scope of the present Convention

The fact that the present Convention does not apply to the effects of a
succession of States in respect of international agreements concluded between
States and other subjects of international law or in respect of international
agreements not in written form shall not affect:

(a) the application to such cases of any of the rules set forth in the
present Convention to which they are subject under international law
independently of the Convention;

(b) the application as between States of the present Convention to the
effects of a succession of States in respect of international agreements to
which other subjects of international law are also parties.

Article 4

Treaties constituting international organizations and treaties adopted within
an international organization

The present Convention applies to the effects of a succession of States in
respect of:

(a) any treaty which is the constituent instrument of an
international organization without prejudice to the rules concerning acquisition
of membership and without prejudice to any other relevant rules of the
organization;

(b) any treaty adopted within an international organization without prejudice
to any relevant rules of the organization.

Article 5

Obligations imposed by international law independently of a treaty

The fact that a treaty is not considered to be in force in respect of a State
by virtue of the application of the present Convention shall not in any way
impair the duty of that State to fulfil any obligation embodied in the treaty to
which it is subject under international law independently of the treaty.

Article 6

Cases of succession of States covered by the present Convention

The present Convention applies only to the effects of a succession of States
occurring in conformity with international law and, in particular, the
principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Conventions: Chronological Index 1971-1990.