Glossary of Treaty Terms

Acceptance/Approval	Have the same legal effect as ratification (see below).

Accession	Has the same legal effect as ratification (see below), but is not preceded by signature.

Agreed Minute or Agreed Record	May record decisions reached between two delegations, or, may be annexed to an agreement to deal with administrative details or interpretations. In some cases may be used as the title for a treaty or an MOU (see below).

Agreement	The most usual title for a treaty. Usually an agreement will be a legally binding treaty, although – as with all terms – the title of the instrument is not determinative: resort must be had to the terms of the agreement.

Arrangement	The term arrangement is commonly used as a title for a non-binding instrument (but see comment on the title of instruments in the previous entry).

Code of Conduct	Term usually attributed to sets of non-binding principles.

Constitution or Statute	Title often used for a treaty establishing an international organization.

Contracting State	A State which has consented to be bound by a treaty whether or not the treaty has entered into force.

Confirmation	A term sometimes used to signify ratification, accession or approval of a treaty, usually by an international organization as opposed to a State.

Convention	A term frequently employed for agreements to which a large number of countries are parties. In bilateral relations it is often applied to treaties of a technical or social character, e.g. Conventions on Social Security or Double Taxation.

Depositary	Usually one State, an international organization, or its chief administrative office so designated in a multilateral treaty. The depositary performs in an impartial manner various functions with regard to the treaty. Responsibilities include receiving signatures and instruments of ratification and communicating comprehensive and up-to-date information on the status of of the treaty (e.g. list of parties). Articles 77 to 79 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Treaty Series No. 58 (1980): Cmnd.7964) (1980) sets out different depositary functions.

Entry into force	When a treaty enters into force it becomes legally binding on all its parties. The terms of the treaty will dictate when a treaty enters into force, which will usually occur when all or a specified number of signatories have ratified the treaty.

Exchange of Notes (constituting an constitute a treaty if this Agreement)	The act of exchange will constitute a treaty if this is the intention of the States concerned. Such intention is usually evidenced by an express statement in the notes that together they constitute an agreement. (Exchanges of Notes may also be used to record a non-binding arrangement: see MoU below).

Exploratory talks	Exploratory talks describe an informal stage of discussions, prior to the opening of formal negotiations, in which the parties explore the potential for reaching agreement.

Final Act	A formal document recording the results of an international conference. Treaties adopted by the conference will be attached to it. Signing the Final Act, however, does not constitute consent to be bound by such treaties.

Full Powers	A formal document signed by the Head of State or Government or the Foreign Minister empowering the person (or persons) named to sign a treaty on behalf of that State.

Initialling	Once the negotiators of a treaty have reached agreement, it is usual for the authenticity of the agreement to be established by the initialling of the text that has been agreed. Unless the parties agree otherwise (which is unusual), initialling implies no legal or political commitment on the part of either party to the text which has been initialled. The legal significance of this step is that the authentic text is the only one to which appeal may be made to correct any inaccuracies of translation or reproduction.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)	A form frequently used to record informal non-legally binding arrangements between States on matters which are inappropriate for inclusion in treaties (e.g. for confidentiality) or where the form is more convenient than a treaty. They may be drawn up as a single document using non-treaty terms, signed on behalf of two or more Governments, or consist of an exchange of notes or letters recording an understanding reached between the two Governments. It is usually called a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’, (although some treaties are also called so) or an ‘Arrangement’.

Negotiation	The formal process by which the terms of a treaty are agreed between States and which results in the initialling or conclusion of a treaty. Negotiators representing all parties enter into discussions with the authorization and mandate of the party they represent.

Notification of completion of procedures	Has the same effect as ratification. Used, usually in bilateral treaties, instead of ratification. The treaty provides for each State to notify the other when the internal procedures required to be undertaken (legal or administrative) have been completed. Such treaties usually come into force on the Note containing the later of the two notifications.

Party	A State which has consented to be bound by the treaty and for which a treaty is in force.

Proces-verbal	Is most commonly used to set out agreed corrections to a treaty already signed.

Protocol	Usually denotes a treaty amending or supplementing an existing treaty, but can stand alone.

Provisional application	Provisional application results from an accessory or secondary agreement among the parties to a treaty that the substantive provisions of the main agreement, or certain selected substantive provisions, should be applied pending the formal entry into force of the agreement. This additional agreement may be contained in a provision of the main agreement itself or in an additional agreement.

Ratification	Follows signature and signifies the consent of a State to be bound by the treaty. It consists of the deposit of an instrument of Ratification with the other State (bilateral), or the Depositary (multilateral). Any process of obtaining parliamentary approval for ratification is not ratification, though often mistakenly referred to as such.

Reservation	A unilateral statement made by a State (on signature/ ratification/ acceptance/ approval/ accession), intended to exclude or modify the legal effect of certain provisions of a treaty in their application to that State.

Signatory	Can be a misleading term since it is often used in respect of a State which has ratified a treaty. It should not therefore be used when referring to the State which has ratified, etc. a treaty.

Signature	The act whereby a State expresses its consent to the text of treaty, but not its consent to be bound by it, unless the treaty provides that it will come into force on signature. A State which has signed a treaty which is subject to ratification is not obliged to ratify but is under an obligation not to act in a manner which would undermine the objectives of the treaty.

Treaty	A generic term for an agreement concluded between States (or other entities such as international organisations having international personality) in written form and intended by them to be binding in international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation. It does not have to be signed, although it usually is.

Withdrawal	Withdrawal is the formal term given to the removal of consent to be bound by a treaty. Usually, the treaty will specify the terms of withdrawal and typically a party to a treaty will remain bound by the treaty for a specified period of time following notification of intention to withdraw before the withdrawal takes effect.