Sociology | Mercantile Law | International Law | International Relations

Reservations to a Treaty
WHAT IS TREATY?
“Treaty means an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation.”

These are the words which have been stated in Article-2(1-A) of the VCLT in order to define treaty. A treaty may also be known as an (international) agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, pact, or exchange of letters, among other terms. Regardless of terminology, all of these forms of agreements are, under international law, equally considered treaties and the rules are the same.

Relevant Provisions
Article-19 to Article-23 of the Section-2 of ‘VCLT’ takes into account the reservations to a treaty.

WHAT IS RESERVATION?
Article-2 (1-D) defines ‘Reservation’ as, “A unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State.”

INGREDIENTS

• A unilateral Statement
• The Statement must have been made by a State
• The Statement must have Purported the Exclusion or Modification of certain Provisions of the Treaty
• The Exclusion or Modification must have been demanded to Alter the Legal Effect of the Provisions to that State demanding
• The Statement must have been made within the any of the Stages mentioned