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THE LEGAL CHARACTER OF ARTICLE 18 OF THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2019

Paul Gragl  and
Malgosia Fitzmaurice
Paul Gragl
Affiliation:
Paul Gragl, Reader in Public International Law and Theory, Queen Mary, University of London, p.gragl@qmul.ac.uk
Malgosia Fitzmaurice
Affiliation:
Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Professor of Public International Law, Queen Mary, University of London, m.fitzmaurice@qmul.ac.uk.
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Abstract

The main reason for Article 18 being one of the most opaque provisions of the Vienna Convention is that it establishes a relatively vague ‘interim obligation’ for States to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty between its signature and ratification. Although the existence of such an interim obligation has been recognized by States and in various international legal regimes, it remains problematic since Article 18 neither defines nor determines its own contours and when and under which conditions it is being breached. It goes without saying that the legal consequences of a possible breach of this provision are left equally unclear. It remains uncertain how the interim obligation of Article 18 fits into the general international law of treaties; what its legal nature and temporal scope is; which role the principle of good faith plays as a possibly underlying principle of this provision; and how we should understand the object and purpose of a treaty and how it can be defeated. Furthermore, its apparent focus seems to be on bilateral rather than multilateral treaties, but this exclusive application of this interim obligation to bilateral treaties would contravene both the expressed and implied intent of the drafters. Therefore, this article also discusses how Article 18 fits within the normative system of international law and law-making treaties, such as human rights treaties.

Keywords

public international lawArticle 18 VCLTinterim obligationgood faithobject and purposenormative treaties
Type
Shorter Articles
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , July 2019 , pp. 699 - 717
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2019 

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90 Boisson de Chazournes, La Rosa, and Mbengue (n 24) paras 32–33.

91 Buffard and Zemanek (n 82) 331–2.

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95 Klabbers (n 2) 330–1. See also section III below for a more detailed discussion of that test.

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99 See eg Reservations to the Genocide Convention (n 84) 23. See also Rights of Nationals of the United States of America in Morocco (France v United States of America) [1952] ICJ Rep 176, 197; Territorial Dispute (Libya v Chad) [1994] ICJ Rep 6, para 52.

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101 See eg Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (n 70) para 272.

102 Buffard and Zemanek (n 82) 333 and 336–7.

103 Boisson de Chazournes, La Rosa, and Mbengue (n 24) para 35. See also art 16 of the 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.

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105 See Aust (n 39) 108.

106 Klabbers (n 56) 18.

107 Dörr (n 31) para 35. Art 19(c) VCLT states that ‘[a] State may, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, formulate a reservation unless […] the reservation is incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty’.

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119 Villiger (n 18) art 18, para 13.

120 Dörr (n 31) para 39.

121 Reservations to the Genocide Convention (n 84) 23.

122 ibid.

123 ibid.

124 See section II.D.1.

125 Reservations to the Genocide Convention (n 84) 23.

126 See the Dissenting Joint Opinion of Judges José Guerrero, Arnold McNair, John Read and Hsu Mo Reservations to the Genocide Convention (n 84) 31–48.

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134 Brölmann, ‘Law-Making Treaties’ (n 127) 390.

135 According to art 41, the conclusion of agreements to modify multilateral treaties between certain of the parties is only possible, if [the modification] (para 1.b.i) ‘does not affect the enjoyment by the other parties of their rights under the treaty or the performance of their obligations’; Art 58 allows for the suspension of the operation of a multilateral treaty by agreement between certain of the parties only if [the suspension] (para 1.b.i) ‘does not affect the enjoyment by the other parties of their rights under the treaty or the performance of their obligations’. For art 60(2), see Pauwelyn (n 127) 913–15.

136 Pauwelyn (n 127) 914.

137 Klabbers (n 2) 283.

138 ibid 286.

139 ibid 287.

140 ibid 330.

141 International Law Commission, Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties (n 132) 385.

142 Simma, B and Hernández, G, ‘Legal Consequences of Impermissible Reservations to a Human Right Treaty: Where Do We Stand?’ in Cannizzaro, E (ed), The Law of Treaties: Beyond the Vienna Convention (Oxford University Press 2011) 84Google Scholar.

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144 See A Hernández, Guide to Practice on Reservation to Treaties, adopted by the International Law Commission at its Sixty-third Session [2011] 2 Yearbook of the International Law Commission.

145 Loizidou v Turkey, Preliminary Objections (n 143).

146 Chinkin (n 131) 513.

147 ibid.

148 ibid 516.