The term “ratification” refers more to the field of international law and means the process of acquiring legal force by a document. Giving legitimacy to a legal act requires certain actions on the part of each participant in a multilateral agreement. Prior to ratification, de jure and de facto, the document does not have legal force, and a party that does not have time or is not going to ratify it is not obliged to fulfill the conditions contained in the agreement. The proof of the legal procedure is the inclusion of data in a special document - an instrument of ratification.
What is ratification and why is it needed?
In international law, this procedure is a way of expressing consent with the obligation and necessity of a document by the state through sight, approval and acceptance. Despite the fact that until the signing of the instrument of ratification, the implementation of the treaty on the territory of this country is optional, the Vienna Convention made recommendations affecting the further actions of the representative bodies of the state that signed the international regulatory act.
Having applied for a visa, it is advisable to refrain from actions depriving the document of the agreed “purpose” and “object” and going against the main tasks that this document is intended to solve.
Deposit of a document after ratification
With a small number of participants in international negotiations, in the predominant number of cases, an exchange of instruments of ratification takes place. If, on the contrary, there are more than five parties to the agreement, the main document is transferred to a third party. The deposit of instruments of ratification involves the storage of the original contract by the Secretary General of one of the international or intergovernmental organizations. Often, documents are provided for saving by one of the parties involved in ratification.
The participant who accepts the original document for savings is called the depositary. Instruments of ratification of the CIS member states, for example, are kept by the Government of the Republic of Belarus.
Most often, ratification is used to give legitimacy to interstate or intergovernmental agreements, constitutions of federations and confederations, as well as amendments to them. If we are talking about domestic regulatory acts, the procedure is carried out by federal entities. A instrument of ratification in international law is a kind of evidence of the expression of the will of the parties to the agreement on the need for its adoption, signing, approval and entry into force.
The ratification of agreements in Russia
Confirmation of the adoption of the provisions of the document in the Russian Federation is required in several cases, which are indicated in article 15 of the Federal Law “On international treaties of the Russian Federation”. So, ratification is mandatory if its implementation is provided for by the agreement itself. If the contract establishes rules and regulations that differ from the legislative framework of the Russian Federation, it will also require the execution of an instrument of ratification. This action is carried out, as a rule, by the highest state structures - the president or parliament.
The Vienna Conventions, as fundamental international legal acts, do not establish which documents are subject to ratification and which are not. These agreements mean that the procedure of confirmation and adoption of an act within the country should be launched if there is a reservation in the text of the legislative act, as well as with the consent to this action of representatives of states at the time of signing.
What other ways do you agree to accept the contract?
To confirm acceptance of the agreement, international organizations also apply an act of official confirmation in their country, which is equated in significance to the ratification procedure. Approval, acceptance and approval can also be called similar ways of expressing support for the document and consent to the need for its adoption.
However, they are used when it was mentioned in the contract or in the domestic legal act of either party. Most often, approval and approval refers to intergovernmental agreements, and therefore adoption is carried out by the same state executive authority on behalf of which it was concluded.
Accession to the international treaty
By ratification, the accession of other states to the treaty is also carried out. In most cases, this formality applies to countries that did not participate in negotiations on paperwork, but decided to become participants after the act came into force. The accession of the state to the treaty is also necessary if its representatives, although they took part in the negotiations and signed the document, did not express their consent to its need until the moment it takes effect.
Famous examples of ratification of international instruments
Accession is carried out by approval, approval or drafting of an instrument of ratification. Examples of such documents:
- On March 16, 1918, an agreement on the Brest Peace was concluded.
- On August 13, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee ratified the treaty with Afghanistan of February 28, 1921.
- On August 31, 1939, the USSR Armed Forces ratified the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact known in history.
- On November 24, 1969, the USSR and the USA ratified the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
- On January 26, 2000, Russia and Belarus exchanged instruments of ratification of the creation of the Union State.
How to ratify international treaties in the USSR?
In accordance with the Stalin Constitution, international agreements concluded with the participation of the USSR passed the ratification procedure by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In addition, this document clarifies that the Soviet Union will confirm its consent to the need for adoption only in peace treaties, acts on mutual defense against aggression and mutual non-aggression, as well as those documents upon conclusion of which subsequent ratification was agreed.
It is also worth noting that in some cases, an alternative to ratification when expressing consent to the need for a document by representatives of a state or an international organization can be a mutual exchange of notes or letters.
Amendment and reservations to the document
International law leaves the parties to the treaty the opportunity to stipulate its individual clauses. Amendments to the document are carried out by making reservations - unilateral statements from a country or international organization. This procedure is also regulated by the Vienna Conventions, in the wording and under each name in the process of ratification (signing, acceptance, accession or act of official confirmation), by which these entities would like to amend or exclude the legal force of certain provisions of the document. Subsequently, the application of the amendments will apply exclusively to the applicant country or organization.
An important feature is the impossibility of making reservations in situations that are expressly prohibited by the text of the agreement or contrary to its goals and principles. In the predominant number of cases, international treaties provide for the possibility of making reservations to specific paragraphs, since such adjustments can change not only certain provisions of the document, but also its effect as a whole, concerning the state making the reservation and its relations with other participants.
Objection by other States Parties to reservations
Each party has the right to object to the acceptance of the reservation. If the amendments made are contrary to the interests of an individual state party to the agreement, then its representatives may argue that the document is valid, with the exception of the clause with a reservation, or is not valid in relations with the country that made the reservation. If the state accepts the amendments, the agreement will be valid with it.
An objection to reservations, as well as agreement with them, is filed by one of the parties in writing. The statement is communicated to the remaining parties to the agreement. If a reservation is drawn up during the signing of a treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or an act of official confirmation, it is important for the amendment to be confirmed by the applicant party. In this case, the initiator of the reservation remains the right to cancel it at any time. In the same way, an objection to the introduction of appropriate amendments to the document may be withdrawn in writing.
Agreement Agreement Notice: Note Transfer
In addition to letters of ratification of the ratification procedure, other official documents are drawn up confirming the accession, acceptance or approval of the provisions of the treaty in the territory of a particular country.
As already mentioned, in a multilateral interstate or intergovernmental agreement, the originals of the above acts are deposited by one of the parties or by the Secretary General of the international organization. However, Article 16 of the Vienna Conventions also provides for another option for storing originals: instead of the delivery or exchange of letters (other documents), the use of notifications in a simplified form is allowed. Such a document must express agreement with the need for an agreement. The easiest notification option is to send a note.
In Russia, according to the Federal Law “On International Treaties of the Russian Federation,” the procedure for ratifying an agreement looks like this: the head of state signs a letter of approval, and the document is also endorsed by the seal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The process of exchange and delivery of signed acts for storage occurs if the parties to the agreement have not agreed on another deposit option.