The chapter addresses the phases in making a new treaty: negotiation, drafting and production of the text. It discusses how to prepare for treaty negotiations and how to influence the drafting effectively, differences in the making of multilateral and bilateral treaties, and identifying the main actors involved in negotiating and drafting a new treaty. It explains in detail how to structure a treaty text, including title, preamble, final clauses, testimonium, signature block. It then examines the process of preparing and producing a treaty text for signature, including adoption, translation, formatting, binding and sealing. At each stage the role of the Treaty Office is highlighted. The importance of Full Powers is explained, as well as how to produce them and when it is permissible to dispense with them. Lastly, the chapter provides useful checklists for Treaty Offices and depositaries in making new bilateral and multilateral treaties.

The chapter focuses on a technical and yet imperative question of why organisation of treaty work matters. It discusses what can go wrong if a State or IO has poor treaty organisation. The chapter also address questions related to the functions of the Treaty Office, where it should be located, who should work in it and its important role in in maintaining good organisation of treaty work.

The chapter focuses on the distinction between treaties and other kinds of international instruments. It addresses issues such as why it is necessary to distinguish between treaties and other kinds of international instruments, and what can go wrong when a State or an IO fails to do so. It identifies other kinds of international instruments that are not treaties, their binding status, different scenarios in which it may be difficult to differentiate such instruments and how to overcome such situations. The chapter also offers some suggestions on handling treaties and other kinds of international instruments.

As well as being a concluding chapter of the Handbook, the chapter provides succinct analysis of the future of treaty practice and identifies factors that may contribute to future change. It then looks at how these influential factors are changing treaty practice now, the direction those changes might take in the future and how Treaty Offices may best prepare themselves to handle the predictable and the unpredictable challenges. It emphasises that treaty practice is not merely an adjunct to the law of treaties; it is a specialisation in its own right in which treaty professionals participate in evolutions in practice as well as react to external developments.

For any State or IO, the accurate and efficient management of treaty records is of fundamental importance. This chapter looks at the how’s and whys of keeping treaty records, where the information comes from and what treaty officials do with it. It looks at ways of managing all treaty-related information and permanently preserving treaties and associated documents, and what one needs to consider when doing so. It addresses what different users might need treaty information for, and the ways in which they might use it. It looks first at internal users such as the Treaty Office and those closely associated with it, such as legal advisers and policy makers within the government or IO. It then considers the needs of ‘external users‘ in effect, everyone else. Lastly, it considers the role of depositaries.

The chapter provides a general overview of the Handbook and identifies those who may be interested in and/or benefit from it. It explains that the aim of the Handbook is not only to describe treaty practice as it is, but also to suggest how to do it well. It explains what treaty practice is and sets out proposed criteria for good practice, with plenty of examples that meet these criteria. The chapter also introduces a useful analytical tool to enable each government and IO to identify and develop the best treaty practice for their circumstances, recognising that one size does not necessarily fit all.