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nature. 48 Once a state has signed or exchanged instru- states or depositary. 54
ments subject to ratiiication, acceptance, or approval, or 8-9. Entry into Force of an International Agreement. a.
has expressed its consent to be bound pending entry into Modern international agreements, especially general
force of the treaty, it must refiain from acts which would multilateral conventions, commonly provide, in some
defeat the object and purpose of the agreement. 49 detail, for the time and manner in which the agreement
b. Increasing numbers of treaties provide for "accep- shall enter into force for those states which have con-
tance" or "approval" as a substitute for one or more of sented to be bound. Such an agreement typically becomes
the other procedures-signature, ratification, acces- effective when a specified number or proportion of states
sion,-by which a state consents to be bound by a has deposited ratification or transmitted acts of approval
multilateral treaty. The significance of a provision requir- or acceptance. 55 In the absence of this form of arrange-
ing "acceptance" or "approval" is that the latter terms ment, the Convention provides that a treaty becomes
imply less formality than "ratification." Additionally, effective as soon as consent to be bound has been estab-
they may allow a government lished for a1 of the negotiating states. 56 If a state's con-
. . . a further opportunity to examine the treaty when it is not necessarily sent to be bound is established on a date after the treaty
obliged to submit it to the State's constitutional procedure for obtaining has come into force, it becomes effective for that state on
ratification.50 that date. 57
c. "Ratifcation" is the process by which the Head of b. The provisions of a treaty regulating matters neces-
State asserts that this is the agreement to which the State sarily arising before the entry into force of the treaty, such
assents. As previously noted, prior to the modem period as authentication of text and the functions of the deposi-
of rapid communication and travel, representatives of the tary, apply from the time of the adoption of its text. As
Head of State, "plenipotentiaries," frequently signed previously stated, 58 signature or initialing of the text can
treaties without the final concurrence of their Heads of be the agreed-upon method of adoption, and thus these
State, thereafter going home and obtaining ratification. kindsof provisions would apply fiom the time of signature
Today, this is generally not necessary. However, further if this were the agreed-upon method of adoption.
steps at home may be required when the treaty-making c. A treaty may be applied provisionally, pending its
power is not possessed solely by the executive oficer. In entry into force, if this is provided for in the treaty or
the U.S., for example, the Senate's "advice and consent" agreed upon by the negotiating states, but provisional ap-
must be obtained before the President can ratify a treaty. plication is terminated if a state notifies the other states of
d. Deposit of instruments of consent. The initial step its intention not to become a party. 59
after ratification is usually the deposit of the ratifcation at 8-10. Depositaries. In keeping with Articles 76 and 77 of
a predesignated depositary. Prior to the Convention, a the Convention, multilateral treaties often provide that
state was not considered bound by an agreement until the government of a state or an organ of an international
deposit was made. 51 After the creation of the League of organization shall act as the depositary of the treaty. Such
Nations, registration of treaties in the archives of desig- depositaries are charged with a number of tasksrelating to
nated agencies or organizations assumed special legal im- the -tion of the treaty, many of which must be per-
portance. Under League practice, a treaty was not formed before the treaty has entered into force. Ratifica-
regarded as binding unless so registered. 52 The United tions and other instruments of acceptance or approval, for
Nations Charter adopted a less drastic formula, however, example, are typically communicated to the depositary,
forbidding a party to an unregistered treaty from invoking which then informs the contracting states of the deposit of
it before any organ of the U.N. 53 The Vienna Convention such instruments and their effect on the treaty's status. 60
provides that, unless otherwise stated in a treaty, instru- 8-11. Reservations to International Agreements. a.
ments of ramcation, acceptance, approval, or accession General. A reservation is
establish the consent of a state to be bound upon their ex- . . . a unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State,
change between the contracting states, their deposit with when signing, ratifying, acceding to, accepting or approving a treaty,
the depositary, or their notification to the contracting whereby it purports to exclude or to vary the legal effect of certain provi-
sions of the treaty in their application to that State. 61
--- In the context of bilateral agreements, a reservation is
48. Id. at .Art. 12.
49. Id. at Art. 18. closely analogous to a counteroffer by the reserving state,
50. 2 Y.B.Int'l L.C.198 (1966).
51. An example of this fact can be seen in a U.S. Department of S4. Vienna Convention, Art. 16.
State decision that a treaty approved by the Senate, but never deposited 55. See, e.g., the Provisions collected in Office of Legal Affairs,
as required in the American Embassy in Parisdue to the intervention of Handbook of Eial Clauses 21-38, U.N. Doc.ST/LEG/6 (1957).
World War I, was not completed and thus could be revoked by the 56. Vienna Convention, Art. 24(1) and (2).
President without action by the Senate. 5 G. Hackworth, supra, note 14 57. Id. at Art. 24(3).
at 54. $8. See para 8-9a, supra.
52. See Hudson, Legal meet of Unregistered Treaties in Practice 59. Vienna Convention, Art. 25.
under am'cle 18 of the Covenant, 28 Am J. In17 L. 564 (1934). 60. Vienna Convention, Arts. 76-78.
53. U.N. charter, Art. 102. 61. Id. at Art. 2(d).