Amendments

Hollis, Duncan B

doi:10.1093/law/9780199601813.003.0031

Chapter

Amendments

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https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780199601813.003.0031

Pages

741–757

Published:

July 2012

Extract

Standard Amendment Procedures

A defining feature of the treaty is its stability; treaties are serious commitments meant to last over time. Nevertheless, treaties may require adjustment for various reasons. The primary, although not exclusive,⁷⁰ means of doing so is through an amendment. Amendments formally make changes to a treaty’s text, whether its main provisions or any annexes.

Today, a treaty usually specifies its own procedures for amendment.⁷¹ This is not, however, universally true, and the VCLT provides a default framework where treaties are silent on the subject.⁷² Sometimes, a treaty will contain provisions for a general review of the whole treaty. Although these ‘revision’ clauses were once distinguished from amendment procedures, that is no longer the case. Revision clauses now either set the stage for applying the treaty’s amendment procedures, or where the treaty is silent, those of the VCLT.

In terms of amendment procedures themselves, treaties may adopt one of two standard formulations.⁷³ First, bilateral treaties (and occasionally multilateral ones) operate on the basis of unanimity; an amendment requires the agreement and consent of all parties to enter into force, and when it does, all parties are equally bound. A second, different formulation is frequently employed in treaty texts anticipating a large number of parties, where an amendment only binds those parties that consented to it. The singularity of this result is masked by a complicated set of procedures for: (i) proposing amendments; (ii) the parties’ adoption of an amendment; and (iii) its entry into force. Although unanimity is not required for entry into force, approval requirements may otherwise vary at all three stages. Thus, these clauses differ widely in their details even as they structurally end in the same place, stipulating individual consent for any treaty amendment that enters into force.

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Contents

Amendments

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Standard Amendment Procedures

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Amendments

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Standard Amendment Procedures

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