Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword to the first edition by Sir Arthur Watts
- Preface to the second edition
- Articles of the Convention cited in the text
- Table of treaties
- Table of MOUs
- Table of cases
- Glossary of legal terms
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969
- 2 What is a treaty?
- 3 MOUs
- 4 Capacity to conclude treaties
- 5 Full powers
- 6 Adoption and authentication
- 7 Consent to be bound
- 8 Reservations
- 9 Entry into force
- 10 Treaties and domestic law
- 11 Territorial application
- 12 Successive treaties
- 13 Interpretation
- 14 Third states
- 15 Amendment
- 16 Duration and termination
- 17 Invalidity
- 18 The depositary
- 19 Registration and publication
- 20 Dispute settlement and remedies
- 21 Succession to treaties
- 22 International Organisations
- 23 Drafting and final clauses
- Appendices
- Index
16 - Duration and termination
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword to the first edition by Sir Arthur Watts
- Preface to the second edition
- Articles of the Convention cited in the text
- Table of treaties
- Table of MOUs
- Table of cases
- Glossary of legal terms
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969
- 2 What is a treaty?
- 3 MOUs
- 4 Capacity to conclude treaties
- 5 Full powers
- 6 Adoption and authentication
- 7 Consent to be bound
- 8 Reservations
- 9 Entry into force
- 10 Treaties and domestic law
- 11 Territorial application
- 12 Successive treaties
- 13 Interpretation
- 14 Third states
- 15 Amendment
- 16 Duration and termination
- 17 Invalidity
- 18 The depositary
- 19 Registration and publication
- 20 Dispute settlement and remedies
- 21 Succession to treaties
- 22 International Organisations
- 23 Drafting and final clauses
- Appendices
- Index
Summary
En toute chose il faut considérer la fin.
The length of this chapter demonstrates that this is an important topic, though it is often neglected. As also an international lawyer of some repute, La Fontaine is quite right: consideration of the duration and termination of a new treaty should not be left until the end of negotiations. Not only may the necessary provisions raise difficult technical questions, but they can also raise sensitive policy issues which should be discussed earlier rather than later in the negotiations. But, first, a note on terminology:
Denunciation denotes a unilateral act by which a party terminates its participation in a treaty. Lawful denunciation of a bilateral treaty terminates it. Although denunciation is also used in relation to a multilateral treaty, the better term is withdrawal, since withdrawal from a multilateral treaty will not normally result in its termination. While ‘denunciation’ is used in relation to treaties as a technical term, non-lawyers may see it as carrying undertones of its ordinary, condemnatory meaning. For this reason it should be avoided, if at all possible, ‘termination’ being much the better word.
Part V of the Convention, Articles 42–5 and 54–64, set out the various circumstances in which a treaty can be denounced, terminated or its operation suspended, other than on grounds of invalidity (for which see the next, much shorter, chapter). Unless the treaty otherwise provides, a party claiming that it is not bound by the treaty has the onus of establishing this.
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- Modern Treaty Law and Practice , pp. 277 - 311Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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