ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law

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Treaties
Jill McC. Watson

Introduction to Treaty Research
Treaties on the Internet
    General 
    Governments
    International organizations and secretariats
    NGOs and other sources
    Status of treaties
    Reservations to treaties

Other Non-print Sources for Treaties
    Online commercial services
    Useful phones
Materials about Treaties 
    Library catalogs
    Indexes and articles
    Blogs and Wikis
    Other Guide chapters
    Current awareness
    Interdisciplinary coverage 
   
 

Treaties are among the primary sources of international law.  This chapter will give you some guidance on how to go about treaty research, using electronic resources. Since there is no such thing as a comprehensive collection of treaties in print or on-line, you will have to conduct your research with a certain amount of creativity, and a lot of perseverance. 


I.  Introduction to Treaty Research
While treaties are among the oldest forms of international law, (a treaty existed between the Hittites and Egyptians 
(http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/ramses-hattusili-treaty.htm) around 1280 BC, for example), it is only relatively recently that they, and the rules under which they are formed, have become increasingly codified. After drafting efforts in the early 20th century by various bodies such as the League of Nations, the International Law Commission of the United Nations drafted the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) (http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf), which came into force in 1980. 

Treaties may be bilateral (with two parties) or multilateral (involving many parties). The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm) is an example of a multilateral treaty, while the Canada-Argentina Investment Treaty (http://www.sice.oas.org/bits/canaarge.asp) represents a typical bilateral treaty. 

The agreements between states go by a variety of names: the United Nations'  "Treaty Reference Guide"  (http://untreaty.un.org/English/guide.asp) "seeks to provide a basic - but not an exhaustive - overview of the key terms employed in the United Nations Treaty Collection to refer to international instruments binding at international law: treaties, agreements, conventions, charters, protocols, declarations, memoranda of understanding, modus vivendi and exchange of notes." 

Professor Frederic Kirgis, of Washington & Lee, has written several brief but highly informative background papers on treaties: "International Agreements and U.S. Law" (http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh10.htm).  Several other short pieces in the ASIL Insights series(http://www.asil.org/insights.htm) address treaty issues arising from current events: "North Korea's Withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty" (http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh96.htm) and "Proposed Missile Defenses and the ABM Treaty"  (http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh70.htm). 

There are two separate elements to treaty research: finding the full text, and determining the status of the treaty, that is, who has signed and ratified the treaty and when, whether it has entered into force, or been altered by subsequent protocols or other amendments. The text must have some assurance of being authoritative, and the status statement should be as recent as possible. Electronic resources make checking status more up-to-the-minute, but authenticity remains unsure in this somewhat unstable format. On most Web sites, it will be unclear where the digitized text of the treaty has come from and how carefully it has been copied or scanned. 

In response to these and other concerns about quality information from the internet, the American Society of International Law has developed a Web-based database, the Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL) (http://www.eisil.org), of authoritative international law documents and other resources available on-line.  Many of the records in EISIL are for treaties, and provide at least one link to the most authentic version of the instrument, a brief description, as well as added information on citation, dates and more.

There are a number of useful print collections of treaties (to which the University of California at Berkeley, for one, has provided a good, fully annotated research guide entitled "Treaties and International Agreements"  (http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/dynamic/ guide.php?guide=international_foreign/treaties).   You can find  the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) and its predecessor the League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS), as well as national collections such as the United States treaty series (UST) in various formats, but there is no one-stop collection of all the treaties in the world, electronic or print.  Some treaties, such as NAFTA and GATT, have been put online by a variety of hosts - but it is important to try to gauge their authenticity as best you can. A misspelling of "Tarrifs" in GATT may serve as an alarm, or the fact that the entire title of a treaty is not included. Be skeptical! 

Some general resources that collect all kinds of treaties, and sometimes even usefully arrange them by topic, are listed below. 

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II.  Treaties on the Internet
1.  General collections
The largest single collection of treaties on the internet is the United Nations Treaty Collection (http://treaties.un.org/Pages/Home.aspx?lang=en)..  A new database has been launched in 2008.  Over 158,000 treaties and related actions already published (in the  2200+ volumes of the UNTS) are available in English, French and any other authentic language used.  Considerable efforts have been made by the UN to ensure that a treaty could be located with relative ease using such information as type of agreement, date of signature, entry into force, names of the parties and popular names. Production of full-text treaties currently is up to early 2005.  One draw-back -- the database will give you the treaty text but no citation. 

As mentioned above, the UN site's handy Treaty Reference Guide defines the different types of agreements (for example,  "Modus Vivendi" which is an informal temporary agreement, intended to fill in until a permanent arrangement is put in place).  Terms used to describe treaty actions, such as "deposit", "entry into force" and "reservation" are also defined. 

The UN Treaty office has also produced "a practical guide to the depositary practice" called Treaty Handbook (http://untreaty.un.org/English/TreatyHandbook/hbframeset.htm). The Handbook includes a glossary of terms, flowcharts indicating the process treaties go through at the UN, and contact information for the UN Treaty Office. It's available in English, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

The Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL) is an extensive database of links to quality international law information available on the Web. EISIL is developed and maintained by the ASIL and  covers the entire field of international law.  EISIL is useful because it not only connects researchers to the best Web version of a particular treaty, but also provides consideral value-added information such as legal citation, date of entry into force, and a brief description of the scope and significance of each instrument.  EISIL's materials are arranged according to subject, so you can see what the most important treaties are in any particular field of  international law.  The data you find can be downloaded, printed or emailed.

One of the earliest (1992) general collections sites is the Multilaterals Project out of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html), which arranges multilateral treaties both chronologically and according to subject, from "Atmosphere and Space" to "Gulf Area Borders," "Human Rights" and more. Be aware that this resource is not updated frequently. 

Treaties may be put up on the internet by a variety of sources. In general, official sources offer the best assurance of authenticity. Listed below you will find governments, regional organizations (such as the European Union), intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the UN,  non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and universities. 

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2.  Governments:

Treaty-making.
The US Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual has a section  called "Political Affairs" that includes "Treaties and Other International Agreements"  (11 FAM 700)  (http://www.state.gov/m/a/dir/regs/fam/c22997.htm) covering "the negotiation, signature, publication and registration of treaties and other international agreements of the United States." Guidance is provided right down to how much time to allow for engrossing (typing on treaty paper) of authentic copies and translation for signature by the parties.

The US Senate has prepared a short "historical overview" (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/ history/common/briefing/Treaties.htm) on its role in the treaty-making process.  (Senators as negotiators:bipartisanship; interpretation; etc).

In January, 2001, the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress updated its lengthy study entitled "Treaties and Other International Agreements: the Role of the United States Senate," (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_senate_print&docid=f:66922.pdf) which "summarizes international and U.S. law on treaties and other international agreements. It traces the process of making treaties through the various stages from their initiation and negotiation to ratification, entry into force, implementation and oversight, modification or termination---describing the respective senatorial and Presidential roles at each stage." (Introductory Note, page xi). It's a large (448 p) pdf file on the Web, and also available printed as 106th Cong. 2d Session S. Prt. 106-71.

Finding US Treaties: Old and New.
The United States Treaty Series has not been put on the Web by the US Department of State.  The DOS Treaty Office has a web page on Treaty Affairs  (http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/text/index.htm) that will help guide your search, since they are "not equipped to serve as a routine source of first resort for texts of treaties...". They do have several important resources online, such as an up-to-date list of Treaty Actions (http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/c3428.htm) covering 1997 to the present, but without full texts.  It has links to Reporting  International Agreements to Congress under the Case Act, (http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/caseact/),and Treaties in Force, which is useful for finding citations to US treaties (described in the "Status of Treaties" section of this chapter).

This means that you must search around a variety of other sites to try to find treaties.

Before 1948, all US treaties approved by the Senate were published in US Statutes at Large (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsl.html). The Library of Congress has reproduced the first 18 volumes (1789-1875) as part of its American Memory Project.

The Thomas Web site from the Library of Congress,  has a "Treaties"  search page (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/ treaties/treaties.htm) which makes it easier to search and/or browse through Congressional documents. "Treaty Status" is at the top of the page.  For "Treaty Texts" scroll down.  All agreements considered by the US Congress (over 650) from the 90th (1968) Congress to the 108th session are covered at least by title and status. Only treaties from or after the 104th (1996) offer full text.

You can search or browse the full text of the Congressional Record  (http://ww w.gpoaccess.gov/ crecord/index.html) from 1994 to the present for information on treaties, which may produce such nuggets as the "Rules of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Treaties."  Reservations, understandings, declarations and the like may be included in the text of the Congressional Record as well. 

While the treaties are moving through the advice and consent, ratification or rejection process, they are tracked (though not provided full text) on the Legislation and Records: Treaties (http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/ d_three_sections_with_teasers/treaties.htm) section of the US Senate's Web site. Different files identify treaties received from the President, on the calendar, approved by the Senate, as well as those rejected or withdrawn during the current Congress. A 2-page CRS report to Congress, "Senate Consideration of Treaties" (http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-384.pdf) summarizes the process.

The Private International Law Database  (http://www.state.gov/s/l/c3452.htm) at the US Department of State contains, among other useful primary documents, the most commonly used Hague Conventions (Service, Evidence, Document Legalization, Child Abduction), the 1958 "New York" Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and many UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT documents.  

The Commerce Department Trade Compliance Center  (http://tcc.export.gov/index.asp) has texts of over 250 trade and related agreements in its "TARA" database (http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/index.asp). They are certified as complete and accurate, but not authentic reproductions.  You can search on "Agreements" only, or include their reports, guides and trade policy review documents.  Search on a particular country and only those agreements to which they are a party will appear. You can find full text of 40 Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) between the US and other countries here, along with guides.  Links are available to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (enforcing economic sanctions) and the Bureau of Export Administration. Agricultural Commodity Agreements such as tobacco, sugar, lumber and so on are not included but may be found under "Agreements" at the USDA Trade Policy Web site (http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/agreements.asp). These databases have been updated.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has a section on "Trade Agreements"  (http://www.ustr.gov/ Trade_Agreements/Section_Index.html) which is divided into "Global", "Regional" and "Bilateral", including treaties on agricultural cooperation and global e-commerce.

The Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) merged as of April 1999 with the State Department and has been reorganized several times.  Now the Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security supervises the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation  (http://state.gov/t/isn/), the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs http://www.state.gov/t/pm/) and the Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation (http://state.gov/t/vci/).  Each has its own treaty section, with agreements ranging from the  "Hot Line Agreement"(1962) to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.  Analysis is included with some of the agreements. 

The US Internal Revenue Service has placed pdf texts of over 60 income tax treaties (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/ international/article/0,,id=96739,00.html) between the US and other countries.  For more up-to-date listing of tax treaties and their texts, consult the US Treasury Department's Tax Treaty Documents page (http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/tax-policy/treaties.shtml).  New versions of the US Model Income Tax Convention and Explanation (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=164686,00.html) were issued in November 2006 and are available in pdf format.

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Among other countries that are putting their treaty collections on the Web, the Australian  government's effort is quite interesting.  As part of a plan to reform the treaty-making process, they decided in 1996 to "make treaties more accessible through an internet database". The Australian Treaties Library (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/) contains not only full text (from 1901 to 2008) of multi- and bilateral treaties, but also their current status, updated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  The Library is fully searchable, includes explanatory material, a flow chart of treaty-making procedures, a list of multilateral treaties under negotiation, a multi-chapter report on Review of the Treaty-Making Process (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/ other/dfat/reports/review_treaty_making.html), as well as Australia and International Treaty-Making (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/reports/aitm1.html), and an Information Kit  (http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/other/dfat/reports/infokit.html?query=^kit).  

A number of other countries are beginning to have limited treaty sections on their Web sites, but in many cases they consist of lists (without full text) or selective status charts. Nonetheless, more and more treaties are appearing on these sites, and they have the advantage of being official government versions. Some other governmental sites: 

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3.  International Organizations and Secretariats (IGOs)
The increasing number of Web sites by international and regional organizations offers another place to search for treaties. Some of these are secretariats responsible for a single treaty, while others are depositories for series of treaties. 
 Examples of single treaty secretariats include:

A. Regional Organizations B. UN-related Organizations C. Other International Organizations
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4.  Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other sources:

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5.  Status of Treaties
Determining the status of treaties requires quite different searching techniques. While the text of a treaty is essentially immutable, its status is constantly changing. Once it is signed, which indicates the finality of the text, it still must enter into force. Subsequently it can be amended by additional instruments, replaced by a new agreement, be terminated, or have more or less parties agree to it.

Some issues relating to signature and ratification are discussed in Curtis Bradley's brief May 2002 ASIL Insight entitled "U.S. Announces Intent Not to Ratify International Criminal Court Treaty."  (http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh87.htm)  Issues arising from the U.S. delay in ratifying the Law of the Sea Convention are analyzed in David Caron and Harry Scheiber's "The United States and the 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty" (2007) (http://asil.org/insights/2007/06/insights070611.html) 

In the United States, the status of treaties is relatively easy to determine, because the Department of State publishes Treaties in Force (TIF) (http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/treaties/) once a year which lays out what bilateral and multilateral treaties are currently in force. The most recent TIF that is online is January 1, 2007. The volume is presented in pdf format and is over 500 pages long so it can be a bit awkward to use.  To find updates to this publication, one must consult "Treaty Actions"  (http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/c3428.htm), arranged by year covering 1997-2008.  The site also tracks "Treaties Recently Received in the Senate" with links to text. 

Appropriately, the status of over 500 multilateral treaties that have been deposited with the UN is findable through the UN Treaty Collection (http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ParticipationStatus.aspx).  The status, reservations and declarations information on these treaties are available in an annual 1000-page print version.  The online version is currently updated in real-time mode.

The UN has conducted "treaty events" annually since 2000 (the Millennium Summit), trying to encourage member states to sign and/or ratify multilateral conventions. The 2008 event  focused on "Towards Universal Participation and Implementation: Dignity and Justice for All of Us".) (http://treaties.un.org/Pages/TreatyEvents.aspx?pathtreaty=Treaty/Focus/Page1_en.xml ) 
2007 saw A Comprehensive Legal Framework for Peace Development and Human Rights."  (http://untreaty.un.org/English/TreatyEvent2007/book_english.pdf) , and in 2006 the subject was Crossing Borders   (http://untreaty.un.org/English/TreatyEvent2006/Focus2006_eng.pdf).  "
Previous treaty events have focused on organized crime, terrorism, sustainable development among other subjects.

At the UN, the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea provides status information on the LOS Convention (http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_agreements.htm). 

When all else fails you may want to reach for the phone (#sect34). 

6.  Reservations to Treaties
The International Law Commission of the UN maintains an on-line Analytical Guide (http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/publications/analyticalguide/analyticalguide_1949-1997.htm) on its codification work, including that on reservations. The 2001 draft text of the "Guide to Practice" on Reservations to Treaties (http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/reports/2001/english/chp6.pdf) is online, as well as commentary and history of the work on this still developing topic. Updates on further work of the Commission on this subject may be found in Chapter VI of the 2008 ILC Report.(http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/reports/2008/2008report.htm)

In the case of multilateral treaties, states may choose to unilaterally modify or even decline to accept certain provisions of the treaty even though they have signed and ratified it. These reservations (as well as Declarations and Objections) are not published in Treaties in Force, but may be found at the UN Treaty Collection (http://treaties.un.org/Pages/Home.aspx?lang=en). After the tables that indicate which countries have become parties and when, the texts of the Reservations and so on are provided. Information available for free is not as up-to-date as subscription-accessible material.

Some readings on reservations are identified below:

Professor Frederic Kirgis presents a concise analysis of U.S. policy and practice in an ASIL Insight entitled "Reservations to Treaties and United States Practice" (May 2003) (http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh105.htm).

A paper on "Treaty Reservations and the Economics of Article 21(1) of the Vienna Convention,"  (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/law/faculty/papers/docs/02-07.pdf) by Francesco Parisi and Catherine Sevcenko (George Mason University) offers history and analysis of reservations. A July 2002 article by Ryan Goodman in the American Journal of International Law examines "Human Rights Treaties, Invalid Reservations and State Consent" (http://www.asil.org/ajil/goodman.pdf).

"The Effect of Reservations on the Entry Into Force of the American Convention on Human Rights"  (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iachr/b_11_4b.htm) is an Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

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III.  Other Non-print Sources for Treaties

1.  On-Line Commercial Services
HEIN:
William S. Hein's "Treaty and Agreements Library" is just part of a large collection of full-text journal articles, the Federal Register, and Supreme Court Decisions that make up their subscription-based Hein Online service.   It includes all US agreements including unpublished ones; a complete set of Treaties in Force; and early US treaties from sets such as Bevans. A detailed Quick Reference Guide (http://heinonline.org/HeinDocs/UN_QuickRefGuide.pdf) shows step-by-step how to research its content and find treaties from multiple points such as citation, popular name, country, date, and more.

LEXIS: 
The USTRTY file in LEXIS has the full text of all treaties to which the US is currently, or has been, a party.  These texts are drawn  from official government sources, and contain both LEXIS cites as well as, when possible, cites to Bevans, TIAS and UST.  Coverage is 1776 to the present. 
Since ILM is carried fully from its inception to the present on LEXIS, all the treaties that have been published there are available (in the INTLAW library, ILM file). The documents provided by ASIL for the International Economic Law database (INTLAW libary, BDIEL file) are available, along with EC treaties, and a great number of  tax treaties provided by the IBFD, including some to which the US is not a party. 

LEXIS (http://www.lexisnexis.com/) has a Web site with more information. 

OCEANA: 
Treaties & International Agreements Online from Oceana (now owned by Oxford University Press) carries the full text of US treaties from 1783 to the present. It is available by subscription on an incremental or annual basis.   By registering at the Oceana Web site (http://www.oceanalaw.com) you can search 12,000 US treaties for free via an index, and then pay if you want the text.   Oceana  offers several services on their Web site: TIARA U.S. Treaties Researcher, TIARA U.S. Treaties Index, and Quick U.S. Treaties Index.  The Index will allow you to search the TIARA database and access the treaties for a fee.  

WESTLAW: 
Coverage of treaties in Westlaw is outlined in their database directory.
WESTLAW does provide information for locating citations to treaties or information about recent treaties by using the full-text law reviews and newspaper sources. A useful place to look is INT-NEWS which contains documents from newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, transcripts and wire services from around the world. This resource would rarely produce the full text of  treaties but rather information about them. 

The WESTLAW Web site (http://www.westlaw.com/) has information about their services.

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2.  Useful Phones
Sometimes the best technology to use to find the most authoritative, up-to-date information on treaties is the telephone. Some key numbers in the U.S. for obtaining cites, status and sometimes even hard copy of treaties are: 

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IV.  Materials About Treaties
If a treaty is hard to identify, or there is some question about whether it actually exists, it is useful to consult the secondary literature on the subject. Researchers also may wish to broaden their quest to include information and analysis -- on treaty interpretation or termination for example. 

 

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This page was revised and updated, March 16, 2009.