Depositary

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The depositary ( lat. Depositum "deposited") of an international treaty is a state , an international organization or the chief administrative officer of an international organization with the task of accepting and storing the original documents of the treaty.

tasks

The depositary's task is usually to ensure the proper handling of all legal acts related to a contract. He is obliged to be neutral in the performance of his duties. The tasks usually include the safekeeping of the original documents of the treaty, the acceptance and safekeeping of ratification and accession declarations and other declarations of the contracting parties, and the notification of these declarations to all contracting parties. These basic tasks of the depositary have also been codified in Article 77 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties since 1969 ; however, they can be specified differently or further for each contract.

The receipt of contracts and other declarations also involves checking whether certain formal criteria have been met. As a rule, only heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers are authorized to sign on behalf of their states. Other persons, such as ambassadors or members of the government, require a power of attorney issued by one of these three persons in individual cases or in general for the signing of international treaties. Since the original signatures are required, declarations cannot be transmitted to the depositary by electronic means. Checking whether a state is authorized to conclude treaties or to submit declarations is not one of the tasks of the depositary. An exception is only conceivable if it is clear that no other state recognizes the applicant. It was not until 2003 that the duties of the depositary with regard to impermissible reservations were expanded. A state that expresses an inadmissible reservation in relation to a contract should first be informed of the inadmissibility by the depositary. Only if the state maintains the reservation should it be passed on to the other states with a reference to the legal problem.

United Nations

Most multilateral treaties today provide for the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) as depositary, especially when they are concluded with the participation of the United Nations or one of its sub-organizations, or at a conference organized by the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is currently the depositary of more than 550 international treaties. The basis for this, in addition to provisions of the individual treaties, are Article 98 of the Charter of the United Nations , Resolution 24 (1) of the General Assembly of the United Nations of February 12, 1946, and the League of Nations resolution of April 18, 1946. In practice, the Depositary functions performed by the United Nations Legal Department.

Treaties concluded without the participation of the United Nations can also be deposited with the Secretary General. In principle, the latter only accepts such documents if they are contracts that pursue global goals decided by the General Assembly of the UN or by the top bodies of one of its sub-organizations and are open to a broad group of participants, or if they are decided by a regional subdivision of the United Nations Goals and are open to each member state of this subdivision. The reluctance of the Secretary General is due to the fact that he must exercise his office independently in the interests of the entire international community.

Examples of treaties that have the Secretary-General of the United Nations as depositary are the United Nations Industrial Development Organization's statutes (1985), and the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (1998). The Secretary General of UNESCO is the depositary of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict .

Further depositaries

In other cases, the depositary status is transferred to the initiator of a contract, who usually organized the contract conference. Switzerland is the depositary of the Geneva Conventions and Italy is the depositary of the Treaty on European Union .

If there is a leading power among the contracting parties, or if a treaty provides for a guarantee power with special rights or tasks, this is often also the depositary. The original of the Versailles Peace Treaty of June 28, 1919 was kept by the Republic of France as a depositary. The Charter of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty are examples of treaties for which the United States is the depositary.

Due to their special connection with the treaty, the depositaries often see themselves in an initiative role in the further development of the treaty, in expanding the circle of contracting parties or in the diplomatic settlement of any disputes about the interpretation of the treaty.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Depositary on duden.de
  2. a b c United Nations (Ed.): Treaty Handbook. Prepared by the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs. Revised Edition , United Nations, New York, NY 2012, pp. 1–4, ISBN 978-92-1-055293-6 , Online PDF 500 kB, accessed January 22, 2014.
  3. ^ Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), Article 76 & 77: Depositaries of treaties
  4. United Nations (Ed.): Treaty Handbook , 2012, pp. 6-8.
  5. ^ Jochen A. Frowein: Some Considerations Regarding the Function of the Depositary. Comments on Art. 72 Para. 1 (d) of the ILC's 1966 Draft Articles on the Law of Treaties . In: Journal for Foreign Public Law and Völkerrecht , Volume 27, 1967, pp. 533-539, here pp. 537-538, ISSN  0044-2348 , online PDF 790 kB, accessed on January 22, 2014.
  6. Beate Rudolf: International Law Commission: 54th Conference - Steady progress with reservations about treaties - New momentum in diplomatic protection - ›Fragmentation of international law‹ and other new topics . In: Journal for the United Nations , Volume 51, Issue 3, June 2003, pp. 91-92, ISSN  0042-384X , Online PDF ( Memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) 780 kB, accessed on January 22, 2014 .
  7. ^ Constitution of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization . European University Viadrina. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  8. Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, Art. 40
  9. Geneva Convention for the Improvement of the Lot of the Wounded and Sick of the Armed Forces in the Field (Art. 64)
  10. Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, Section XV Online
  11. Charter of the United Nations, Art. 111
  12. ^ The North Atlantic Treaty (Art. 14)