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Commentary

on the 1969 Vienna Convention

on the Law of Treaties

Commentary

on the 1969 Vienna Convention

on the Law of Treaties

By

Mark E. Villiger

LEIDEN • BOSTON

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Villiger, Mark Eugen. Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties / By Mark E. Villiger. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-16804-6 (hardback : alk. paper)

1. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) 2. Treaties. I. Title. KZ1298.31969.V55 2009 341.3’7—dc 2008042006

ISBN: 978 90 04 16804 6

Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.

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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

In gratitude to

the European Court of Human Rights and

the former European Commission of Human Rights—

where I learned to interpret and apply an international treaty.

Contents

Preface .................................................................................................... xix Acknowledgments .................................................................................. xxi Foreword ................................................................................................ xxiii Abbreviations ......................................................................................... xxvii How to employ this commentary .......................................................... xxxiii

 

Issues of customary international law .................................................... 1 History of the Convention .................................................................... 28 Preamble ................................................................................................ 39

 

PART I INTRODUCTION

ARTICLE 1 Scope of the present Convention ........................................................... 55

Resolution relating to Article 1 .............................................................. 62

ARTICLE 2 Use of terms ........................................................................................... 65

ARTICLE 3 International agreements not within the scope of the present Convention ........................................................................................ 98

ARTICLE 4 Non-retroactivity of the Convention ..................................................... 107

ARTICLE 5 Treaties constituting international organisations and treaties adopted within international organisations ........................................ 115

x CONTENTS

PART II CONCLUSION AND ENTRY INTO FORCE OF TREATIES

SECTION 1. CONCLUSION OF TREATIES

ARTICLE 6 Capacity of States to conclude treaties .................................................. 125

ARTICLE 7 Full Powers ........................................................................................... 132

ARTICLE 8 Subsequent confi rmation of an act performed without authorisation ..................................................................................... 147

ARTICLE 9 Adoption of the text ............................................................................. 154

ARTICLE 10 Authentication of the text ..................................................................... 165

ARTICLE 11 Means of expressing consent to be bound by a treaty .......................... 172

ARTICLE 12 Consent to be bound by a treaty expressed by signature ...................... 181

ARTICLE 13 Consent to be bound by a treaty expressed by an exchange of instruments constituting a treaty ...................................................... 195

ARTICLE 14 Consent to be bound by a treaty expressed by ratification, acceptance or approval ...................................................................... 203

ARTICLE 15 Consent to be bound by a treaty expressed by accession ...................... 214

Declaration on universal participation in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties ...................................................................... 224

xii CONTENTS

PART III OBSERVANCE, APPLICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF TREATIES

SECTION 1. OBSERVANCE OF TREATIES

ARTICLE 26 Pacta sunt servanda ................................................................................ 361

ARTICLE 27 Internal law and observance of treaties ................................................. 369

SECTION 2. APPLICATION OF TREATIES

ARTICLE 28

Non-retroactivity of treaties .................................................................. 379

ARTICLE 29 Territorial scope of treaties .................................................................... 387

ARTICLE 30 Application of successive treaties relating to the same subject-matter ................................................................................... 395

SECTION 3. INTERPRETATION OF TREATIES

ARTICLE 31

General rule of interpretation ............................................................... 415

ARTICLE 32 Supplementary means of interpretation ................................................ 442

ARTICLE 33 Interpretation of treaties authenticated in two or more languages ........ 450

SECTION 4. TREATIES AND THIRD STATES

ARTICLE 34

General rule regarding third States ....................................................... 465

ARTICLE 35 Treaties providing for obligations for third States ................................. 474

CONTENTS xiii

ARTICLE 36 Treaties providing for rights for third States ......................................... 481

ARTICLE 37 Revocation or modification of obligations or rights of third States ......... 489

ARTICLE 38 Rules in a treaty becoming binding on third States through international custom ........................................................... 497

PART IV AMENDMENT AND MODIFICATION OF TREATIES

ARTICLE 39 General rule regarding the amendment of treaties ................................ 507

ARTICLE 40 Amendment of multilateral treaties ...................................................... 517

ARTICLE 41 Agreements to modify multilateral treaties between certain of the parties only ................................................................. 528

PART V

INVALIDITY, TERMINATION AND SUSPENSION OF THE OPERATION OF TREATIES

SECTION 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 42 Validity and continuance in force of treaties ........................................ 541

ARTICLE 43 Obligations imposed by international law independently of a treaty ......... 550

ARTICLE 44 Separability of treaty provisions ............................................................ 556

ARTICLE 45 Loss of a right to invoke a ground for invalidating, terminating, withdrawing from or suspending the operation of a treaty .............. 572

CONTENTS xv

ARTICLE 55 Reduction of the parties to a multilateral treaty below the number necessary for its entry into force ......................................... 690

ARTICLE 56 Denunciation of or withdrawal from a treaty containing no provision regarding termination, denunciation or withdrawal .......... 695

ARTICLE 57 Suspension of the operation of a treaty under its provisions or by consent of the parties .............................................................. 707

ARTICLE 58 Suspension of the operation of a multilateral treaty by agreement between certain of the parties only .................................. 712

ARTICLE 59 Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty implied by conclusion of a later treaty ............................................. 720

ARTICLE 60 Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty as a consequence of its breach .......................................................... 730

ARTICLE 61 Supervening impossibility of performance ............................................ 752

ARTICLE 62 Fundamental change of circumstances .................................................. 762

ARTICLE 63 Severance of diplomatic or consular relations ....................................... 782

ARTICLE 64 Emergence of a new peremptory norm of general international law ( jus cogens ) ................................................................................. 790

SECTION 4. PROCEDURE

ARTICLE 65

Procedure to be followed with respect to invalidity, termination, withdrawal from or suspension of the operation of a treaty ............. 799

xvi CONTENTS

ARTICLE 66 Procedures for judicial settlement, arbitration and conciliation ............ 816

Annex to Article 66 .............................................................................. 824

Resolution relating to Article 66 and the Annex .................................. 835

ARTICLE 67 Instruments for declaring invalid, terminating, withdrawing from or suspending the operation of a treaty ................................................. 837

ARTICLE 68 Revocation of notifi cations and instruments provided for in Articles 65 and 67 ............................................................................ 845

SECTION 5. CONSEQUENCES OF THE INVALIDITY,

TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF THE OPERATION OF A TREATY

ARTICLE 69

Consequences of the invalidity of a treaty ............................................ 853

ARTICLE 70 Consequences of the termination of a treaty ........................................ 865

ARTICLE 71 Consequences of the invalidity of a treaty which confl icts with a peremptory norm of general international law ................................. 876

ARTICLE 72 Consequences of the suspension of the operation of a treaty ............... 883

PART VI MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 73 Cases of State succession, State responsibility and outbreak of hostilities ....................................................................... 895

ARTICLE 74 Diplomatic and consular relations and the conclusion of treaties ......... 905

ARTICLE 75 Case of an aggressor State ..................................................................... 911

xviii CONTENTS

 

Status of the Convention ...................................................................... 1003

Reservations and declarations to the Convention and objections thereto .............................................................................. 1007

Bibliography .......................................................................................... 1027

Table of cases ........................................................................................ 1035

Submissions by States ........................................................................... 1039

Index ..................................................................................................... 1043

Preface

This is a commentary on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

of 1969 (henceforth: the Convention) and as such an exercise in inter-

preting its provisions and establishing their meaning and scope. It is not

a manual, even less a monograph, on the law of treaties. Such a commen-

tary appears called for in view of the Convention’s central importance for

international law, the abundance of State and court practice and literature

on individual Convention provisions, and the exceptionally rich strata of

travaux préparatoires , in particular the drafts and debates of the ILC and

the Vienna Conference of 1968 and 1969. Heavy reliance has thus been

placed on all these materials.

Methode haben heisst, mit dem Weg der Sache gehen (SIMMA). The com-

mentary’s aim is to explain the content of the various articles in a broader

sense, including its history, its place in international law, and its relations

with other articles of the Convention. The commentary also includes the

declarations, resolutions and annexes pertaining to various articles. Where

disputed issues arise, a brief analysis has been included wherever possible.

The result should provide the “crucible” envisaged by the International

Law Commission (ILC) when interpreting an international treaty provi-

sion ( Article 31 , N. 29).

In order to assist further in the interpretation of the articles, the com-

mentary provides separate sections on the History of the Convention ( q.v .)

and on Customary International Law ( q.v .). There is also a compilation of

the Reservations and Declarations to the Convention and Objections Thereto

( q.v .), the Final Act to the Convention ( q.v .), and the current Status of

the Convention ( q.v .)

It is hoped that the structure and contents of this commentary will be

useful for practitioners and academic teachers alike. Clarity of presenta-

tion was indeed a major objective. A further important aim was to bring

to light the intricate network which the Vienna Conference and the ILC

wove among the various provisions of the Convention, and to provide the

necessary cross-references.

Of particular help proved to be the compilation of materials by WETZEL/

RAUSCHNING, “The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Travaux

préparatoires ” (1978), as well as AUST’s masterful second edition of his

“Modern Law of Treaties” (2007). The magisterial three volumes edited

1

2

3

4

5