Материал: Гольцева О.Ю. Международное право в официальных документах. Под ред. И.А. Горшеневой

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A treaty breach does not automatically suspend or terminate treaty relations, however. The issue must be presented to an international tribunal or arbiter (usually specified in the treaty itself) to legally establish that a sufficiently serious breach has in fact occurred. Otherwise, a party that prematurely and perhaps wrongfully suspends or terminates its own obligations due to an alleged breach itself runs the risk of being held liable for breach.

Treaties sometimes include provisions for selftermination, meaning that the treaty is automatically terminated if certain defined conditions are met. Some treaties are intended by the parties to be only temporarily binding and are set to expire on a given date.

Invalid treaties

There are several reasons an otherwise valid and agreed upon treaty may be rejected as a binding international agreement, most of which involve errors at the formation of the treaty.

A party's consent to a treaty is invalid if it had been given by an agent or body without power to do so under that state's domestic law.

Consent is also invalid if it is given by a representative who ignored restrictions he is subject to by his sovereign during the negotiations, if the other parties to the treaty were notified of those restrictions prior to his signing.

Misunderstanding, fraud, corruption, coercion

Articles 46-53 of the Vienna Convention set out the only ways that treaties can be invalidated – considered unenforceable and void under international law. A treaty will be invalidated due to either the circumstances by which a state party joined the treaty, or due to the content of the treaty itself. Invalidation is separate from withdrawal, suspension, or termination (addressed above), which all involve an alteration in the consent of the parties of a previously valid treaty rather than the invalidation of that consent in the first place.

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A state's consent may be invalidated if there was an erroneous understanding of a fact or situation at the time of conclusion, which formed the "essential basis" of the state's consent.

Consent will also be invalidated if it was induced by the fraudulent conduct of another party, or by the direct or indirect "corruption" of its representative by another party to the treaty. Coercion of either a representative, or the state itself through the threat or use of force, if used to obtain the consent of that state to a treaty, will invalidate that consent.

Peremptory norms

A treaty is null and void if it is in violation of a peremptory norm (jus cogens). These are limited to such universally accepted prohibitions as those against genocide, slavery, torture, and piracy, meaning that no state can legally assume an obligation to commit or permit such acts.

Exercise 27. Suggest the Russian equivalents.

To be binding upon the signatory parties, arising only from the consent of states, procedures of notification, to terminate a treaty, to remain in force, to invoke this breach as grounds for, an alleged breach, provisions for self-termination, prematurely and perhaps wrongfully, valid/ invalid, unenforceable and void, erroneous understanding, to induce consent, null and void.

Exercise 28. Match these terms with their definitions.

1. withdrawal a) dishonest or wicked behaviour in return for money or personal gain

2. suspension b)deceitful or dishonest way of acting

3. termination c) insisting on immediate obedience or attention

4. invalidation d) to take or to move sth back

5. coercion e) the action of preventing sth from being in effect for a time, to stop sth temporarily

Exercise 29. Study these word combinations with the verb “to render” and make up sentences of your own.

Exercise 30. Translate these sentences.

1.The Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag is an oath of loyalty to the country. It is recited at many public events. People in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.

2.Herein we render homage to a genius who brought human fantasies to outer space reality.

3.But in such a case, if it should ever happen, the treaty so obtained from us would, like all other fraudulent contracts, be null and void by the law of nations.

4.The President may wish to terminate a treaty in order to reflect the fact that the treaty has become obsolete, to sanction a treaty partner for violations, to protect the United States from commitments that would threaten its...

5.Contemporary legal doctrine denies that war has extinctive effect on multilateral treaties, unless there has been a radical change in the circumstances rendering the treaty obsolete.

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Exercise 31. Answer these questions.

1.Are treaties permanently binding upon the signatory parties?

2.How are obligations in international law viewed traditionally?

3.What kinds of treaties are generally interpreted to exclude the possibility of withdrawal?

4.What happens in case of withdrawal by one party from a bilateral treaty?

5.Is the treaty terminated when a state withdraws from a multi-lateral treaty?

6.What are the grounds for permanently terminating the treaty?

7.Does a treaty breach automatically suspend or terminate treaty relations?

8.Do treaties include provisions for self-termination?

9.When will a treaty be invalidated?

10.What is a peremptory norm?

Exercise 32. Study this chart.

Exercise 33. Translate into English.

1. The invalidity, termination or denunciation of a treaty, the withdrawal of a party from it, or the suspension of its operation, as a result of the application of the present Convention or of the provisions of the treaty, shall not in any

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way impair the duty of any State to fulfill any obligation embodied in the treaty to which it would be subject under international law independently of the treaty.

2.Subject to the provisions of the instruments relating to the meetings specified hereunder the Director-General shall take all necessary steps for the application of the present Regulations. 3.2. A treaty which contains no provision regarding its termination and which does not provide for denunciation or withdrawal is not subject to denunciation or withdrawal.

3.If the authority of a representative to express the consent of a State to be bound by a particular treaty has been made subject to a specific restriction, his omission to observe that restriction may not be invoked as invalidating the consent expressed by him.

4.Each Party shall ensure that the establishment, implementation and application of the powers and procedures provided for in this Section are subject to conditions and safeguards provided for under its domestic law.

5.Except as otherwise specifically provided in articles in this chapter, mutual assistance shall be subject to the conditions provided for by the law of the requested Party or by applicable mutual assistance treaties.

Exercise 34. Read and comment on this information.

The United States is a signatory to nine multilateral treaties that it has either blatantly violated or gradually subverted. The Bush Administration rejected a number of those treaties, and in doing so placed global security in jeopardy as other nations feel entitled to do the same. The rejected treaties include: The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Treaty Banning Antipersonnel Mines, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, a protocol to create a compliance regime for the Biological Weapons Convention, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The U.S. is also