Registration of Treaties under Article 102 of the
Charter of the United Nations
Seminar on the undertaking of Treaty Actions for Treaties
November 11-12 2009
UN Headquarters
Muriel Djella Ogandaga
Arturo Requesens
Associate Legal Officers
Treaty Section
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Agenda
•
Article 102 of the UN Charter - Mandate
•
Definition of Treaty and Treaty-making
Capacity
•
Registration procedures for Member
States
•
Publication of Treaties and Subsequent
Actions
•
Legal Technical Assistance offered by OLA
(including internet databases)
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United Nations Charter
Article 102
•
Paragraph 1: Every treaty and every international
agreement entered into by any Member of the
United Nations after the present Charter comes
into force shall as soon as possible be registered
with the Secretariat and published by it.
•
Paragraph 2: No party to any such treaty or
international agreement which has not been
registered in accordance with the provisions of
paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty
or agreement before any organ of the United
Nations.
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Article 102: Origins and Policy Objective
•
To avoid secret diplomacy (W. Wilson)
•
Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of
Nations:
Every treaty or international engagement entered
into hereafter by any Member of the League shall
be forthwith registered with the Secretariat and
shall as soon as possible be published by it. No
such treaty or international engagement shall be
binding until so registered.
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Implications of Article 102
•
Each Member State: must register all
international agreements/treaties.
•
United Nations Secretariat: must publish all
agreements registered.
This function is performed at UN HQ by the
Office of Legal Affairs, Treaty Section.
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Article 102(2): Sanctions and
Penalties
•
No party to a non-registered agreement may
invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ
of the United Nations (e.g., the International Court
of Justice).
•
The Article 102 sanction seems to apply only to the
parties of an unregistered agreement.
 Third parties have invoked unregistered
treaties; parties in the middle of an ICJ
proceeding have registered an agreement used
in a defense and the ICJ allowed.
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When must a treaty be registered?
•
Article 102(1): “as soon as possible”
•
Secretariat’s practice: the OLA Treaty Section
encourages all Member States to submit their treaties
for registration – including those from any time period
(no deadline for registration).
– This furthers Article 102’s objective to encourage
greater transparency and OLA’s mandate to promote
the rule of law
– Also results in a greater number of treaties in the UN
Treaty Series, and therefore a better resource for
Member States of the UN
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Important Note
Registration does not imply a judgment by
Secretariat:
• nature of the instrument,
• status of a party, or any similar question
Secretariat’s action/inaction does not confer or take away:
• status of a treaty/ international agreement
•
status of a party
Agreement/entity MUST possess status at
international law.
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Summary

Member State: must submit for registration all
international agreements/treaties

Secretariat: must publish registered
agreements
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Definition of “Treaty” or
“International Agreement”
UN Charter: no definition
Regulations to give effect to Article 102 (GA 1946)
Article 1:“whatever its form and descriptive name”
Vienna Convention, 1969, Article 2(1)(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.
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Article 102
“Treaty” or “International Agreement”







Treaty
Convention
Exchange of notes/letters
Protocol
MOU
Minutes
Unilateral Declaration
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Treaty characteristics
Registrable
– At least 2 Parties with treaty-making capacity
– Intention to create legal obligations at international law
– Binding at international law
– Entry into force date/method
– Old/Terminated agreements included
Not registrable
– Mere political declarations
– Agreements governed by domestic law
– Not in force; no simple signature
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Treaty-Making Capacity
Capacity:
• At least two parties
- Sovereign states
- Intergovernmental organizations
No capacity:
• Non-state entities
- Secretariat is guided by GA/SC resolutions
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Summary
•
Treaty/International Agreement
– whatever its form and descriptive name
•
Parties
– treaty-making capacity on international plane
– intention to create obligations at international
law
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Types of Subsequent Actions to Treaties
registered by the UN Secretariat
•
Multilateral
– Ratification/Accession
– Termination
– Extension to territories
– Denunciation
– Amendment
•
Bilateral
– Change in parties
– Modification of terms/Termination
– Change in scope of application
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Filing and Recording
•
Agreements not subject to registration  are
voluntarily filed and recorded (but are still
published by the UN Secretariat).
•
Includes agreements between:
–
–
–
–
–
United Nations and Specialized Agencies
United Nations and non-member states
Specialized Agencies and non-member states
2 or more Specialized Agencies
Specialized Agencies and International
Governmental Organizations
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Requirements for Member States for
the Registration of Treaties
Regulations to give effect to Article 102 » uniform guidelines
•
•
•
Treaty/international agreement (Article 102)
Must have already entered into force
Accompanied by a Certifying Statement:
“text is a true and complete copy thereof and includes all
reservations/declarations made by the parties thereto”
 Full title
 Date and place of conclusion
 Date and method of Entry into Force
 All authentic languages
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Requirements
•
Submission must be complete
- e.g., authentic texts, protocols, annexes, maps
•
Copy of submission must be legible
* Any parent agreement or related agreements that
are incorporated by reference must already be
registered
Date of effect of registration = date of receipt
by Secretariat of the complete submission
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Requirements for Publication
•
Electronic copy
(G.A. Res. A/RES/51/158 of 10 Jan. 97)
– Diskette or CD-ROM
•
Courtesy translations into any of the
six official languages
(preferably English/French)
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Communication
by Secretariat
•
If successful:
•
 Submitter receives a certificate of
registration
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Communication
by Secretariat (Continued)
•
If there is a problem with the registration:
 Submitter is most commonly requested
to submit missing information or clarify:
 Authentic language versions
 Entry into force information
 Missing annexes, protocols, etc.
 Translations and electronic copy
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Summary
•
Documentation complete; meets definition of
“international agreement” under Article 102 and
its Regulations
•
Certifying statement correct and matches the
Agreement itself
•
Translations/electronic copy submitted
Agreement registered and published
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Publication Mandate
OLA Treaty Section
•
Monthly Statement
•
Publication of Treaties in the United Nations
Treaty Series
http://treaties.un.org
•
Publication Mandate:
- Article 12 of the Regulations to give effect to
Article 102 (see Treaty Handbook p. 32)
- Modified by A/153 of 15 December 1997
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United Nations Treaty Series
Limited Publication Policy
•
Exceptions to publication in extenso:
– Assistance / co-operation agreements of limited scope:
– financial, commercial, administrative or technical matters
e.g. project agreements, World Bank bilateral financial agreements
– Agreements relating to the organization of conferences,
seminars or meetings
– Agreements that are to be published elsewhere by UN
Secretariat or specialized or related agency
e.g. IAEA agreements
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United Nations Treaty Series
Limited Publication Policy
Exceptions to publication in extenso:
-
Lengthy lists of products attached to trade
agreements
-
And: Agreements of the European
Community/Union are published only in
English and French
Source: Article 12(2) of the GA regulations to
give effect to Article 102 of the UN Charter
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United Nations Treaty Series
•
Published in a single series beginning in 1946
(with the SG’s annual report, UNTS is 1 of only 2
publications mandated in the UN Charter)
•
All integral elements of an agreement including
protocols, agreed minutes, attachments and
maps
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United Nations Treaty Series
Publications
•
Texts of agreements registered and
filed and recorded with the
Secretariat
•
All languages of the registered
agreements
– Over 140 languages
•
Translations into English and French
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UNTS on the Internet
http://treaties.un.org
•
Full texts of treaties and treaty actions with
textual component are available.
– Including declarations, statements,
reservations, etc.
•
Search and retrieval capabilities for all treaties
•
Facility to view, save and print the full texts of
treaties.
•
Full texts of multilateral treaties deposited with
the Secretary-General awaiting publication in the
UNTS
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Requirements for Faster Publication of
Treaties Submitted for Registration
•
Clean, legible hard copies submitted
•
TRANSLATIONS – into English and French
•
Electronic text (Wordperfect, Word, PdF, Tif,
etc.)
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Legal Technical Assistance Provided
by the Office of Legal Affairs
Research for Member States and their
Governments
• Texts and parties to multilateral and
bilateral treaties
• Capacity-building Trainings at
Headquarters and in the regions
• Individual assistance provided by Legal
Officers on specific treaty-related
questions
• Reference to substantive offices and
treaty bodies
•
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Copyright © 2009 by the United Nations. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior written permission of the United
Nations
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