Treaty

A contract for the purposes of international law is an " express or implied consent of between two or more subjects of international law, be justified by which international law rights and obligations ." International treaty law is in addition to customary international law and general principles of law " now the main source of law of international law (see Article 38 lit. A ICJ Statute ) " it supersedes, analogous to contract in private law, the act of the partners in the international legal sense, at least a limited international personality ahead of the persons involved. The contract with the highest geographical binding effect is the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer of 22 March 1985 with 196 Parties.

"Because there is no central legislature in international law, act by international treaties, in particular the multilateral treaties (, Global contracts '), as ' laws' of the international community. "

Contract negotiations and signature

International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats initially in regular contact with their governments. If agreement on the policy wording is, they are initialed by the negotiators and then signed, for example, members of the government or duly authorized persons.

Entry into force

When an international treaty enters into force, depends on the individual circumstances. Here are national requirements under international law irrelevant ( unless the contract provides otherwise ), so it is not international law matters to a consent to nationally relevant bodies.

In general, an international treaty must be ratified before it can enter into force. Ratification is the international legally binding statement of the conclusion of an international agreement by the Parties, this by international law competent bodies representing the state outward (these are regularly the Heads of State, Heads of Government or Minister for Foreign Affairs ) happens, or to international law authorized persons.

In most cases, is determined in the contract itself, when it enters into force. This depends on a multilateral treaty often (but not always ) from the requirement of a certain number of ratifications to enter into force after their existence of the contract. If there is no control over the entry into force of the contract, he shall not come into force when the agreement of all the negotiating States.

When a State to a treaty already in force later in, the contract shall expire on the accession of that State in force, unless the treaty itself provides otherwise. This accession is called accessions, have to leave a Akzessionsurkunde comes to ratification same.

International Contract Law

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties ( Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, VCLT ) of 23 May 1969 wrote on the one hand the existing international law to contracts firmly and supplemented it only slightly. Nevertheless, the U.S. has this convention, which entered into force on 27 January 1980 and not ratified, but they feel as far as it is only formulating pre-existing law, bound to it.

Procedure in the Federal Republic of Germany

Article 32 of the Basic Law regulates the foreign relations of the Federal Republic of Germany. It reads as follows:

( 1) The maintenance of relations with foreign States is a federal matter.

(2 ) Prior to the conclusion of a treaty affecting the special conditions of a country, is in time to hear the country.

( 3) If the states are responsible for the legislation, they may conclude treaties with foreign states with the consent of the Federal Government.

It is disputed how the countries are to be given powers to conclude international agreements. Legal Relevance acquired this dispute, when it comes to the implementation of international treaties within Germany. Although the federal government may enter into contracts for the whole of Germany, but the implementation is the responsibility under Article 30 of the Basic Law countries, to the extent provided no other regulation. Denied a state of the reaction, it may for breach of contract and to which international sanctions are affecting the entire state.

The so-called Berliner solution represented by the federal government and the State of Berlin view, speaks to the collar comprehensive final and transformation competence. The Süddeutsche solution, however, supported by Baden- Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine -Westphalia, affirms the contract power of the Federation only for the federal government assigned property matters. The North German solution as a mediating view of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig -Holstein admits the federal government, although extensive powers to conclude international treaties, however, the implementation of the treaty into national law is the sole responsibility of the Länder. A compromise was finally taken by the Lindau Agreement of 1957. After that, the federal government has the power to conclude international agreements in the field of legislative competence of the Länder. However, the federal government is obliged to obtain the consent of the countries before signing a contract. This ensures the implementation of the treaty by the countries.

In a series of international agreements exist federal state clauses designed to avoid conflicts between the federal government and individual states.

Multi-phase method

The Federal President shall represent the Federal Republic of Germany under international law (Article 59 paragraph 1 sentence 1 of the Basic Law ). However, the introduction and negotiation of international treaties are the sole responsibility of the federal government, which determines the political direction and content of the contract. Thus, the Federal President must grant the Chancellor or the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs as a negotiator for the Federal Republic of Germany at first an authority on the international representation of Germany.

From the article 7, paragraph 2 of the Vienna Convention ( WVRK ) shows that in principle, the heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers are to be regarded as an authorized representative. The negotiators of the subjects of international law negotiate the treaty text. Following the initialling of the treaty text by the negotiators is done; sometimes it is because of the political importance of a contract to the initialling and subsequent signing by other state organs. Such signature or those with the initials ( initials by ) the dealer confirms that the signed text is authentic and definitive, so the negotiated equivalent, and can not be changed unilaterally. The national approval procedure referred to in Article 59 paragraph 2 sentence 1 GG ( possibly with participation ) will be adopted by the Federal Council and the German Bundestag is a federal law in the form of a contract law (or " consent law" ). The international legal consent, with the contractual provisions will be binding occurs through ratification by the Federal President. After the ratification of the Contracting States shall be exchanged or deposited with an international depositary.

Single-phase method

The single-phase contracting procedure, which, like the multi-phase is determined by the Constitution, is characterized in that there is no domestic procedure is necessary. The contract gained with its signature by the Parties directly effectiveness.