Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Preamble
- Article 1 Object and Purpose
- Article 2 Scope
- Article 3 Ammunition/Munitions
- Article 4 Parts and Components
- Article 5 General Implementation
- Article 6 Prohibitions
- Article 7 Export and Export Assessment
- Article 8 Import
- Article 9 Transit or Trans-Shipment
- Article 10 Brokering
- Article 11 Diversion
- Article 12 Record Keeping
- Article 13 Reporting
- Article 14 Enforcement
- Article 15 International Cooperation
- Article 16 International Assistance
- Article 17 Conference of States Parties
- Article 18 Secretariat
- Article 19 Dispute Settlement
- Article 20 Amendments
- Article 21 Signature, Ratification, Acceptance, Approval or Accession
- Article 22 Entry into Force
- Article 23 Provisional Application
- Article 24 Duration and Withdrawal
- Article 25 Reservations
- Article 26 Relationship with Other International Agreements
- Article 27 Depositary
- Article 28 Authentic Texts
Article 25 - Reservations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2021
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Preamble
- Article 1 Object and Purpose
- Article 2 Scope
- Article 3 Ammunition/Munitions
- Article 4 Parts and Components
- Article 5 General Implementation
- Article 6 Prohibitions
- Article 7 Export and Export Assessment
- Article 8 Import
- Article 9 Transit or Trans-Shipment
- Article 10 Brokering
- Article 11 Diversion
- Article 12 Record Keeping
- Article 13 Reporting
- Article 14 Enforcement
- Article 15 International Cooperation
- Article 16 International Assistance
- Article 17 Conference of States Parties
- Article 18 Secretariat
- Article 19 Dispute Settlement
- Article 20 Amendments
- Article 21 Signature, Ratification, Acceptance, Approval or Accession
- Article 22 Entry into Force
- Article 23 Provisional Application
- Article 24 Duration and Withdrawal
- Article 25 Reservations
- Article 26 Relationship with Other International Agreements
- Article 27 Depositary
- Article 28 Authentic Texts
Summary
Article 25: Reservations
1. At the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, each State may formulate reservations, unless the reservations are incompatible with the object and purpose of this Treaty.
2. A State Party may withdraw its reservation at any time by notification to this effect addressed to the Depositary.
INTRODUCTION
Article 25 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) addresses reservations. Reservations seek to change or modify a State’s treaty obligations. As one commentator put it,‘States may ask that treaty terms be tailored to their individual preferences, turning a prix fixe menuà la carte‘ (Swaine, 2006, p. 307).
The International Law Commission (ILC) most recently defined a ‘reservation’ as:
[A] unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State or an international organization when signing, ratifying, formally confirming, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, or by a State when making a notification of succession to a treaty, whereby the State or organization purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State or to that international organization (ILC Guide, 2011, 1.1).
In general, States propose reservations to ‘adapt the treaty to domestic and legal circumstances [ … ]’ (Swaine, 2012, p. 277). However, it has been stated:
[T]here are probably few subjects in classical general international law which ignite such impassioned debates as the apparently extremely technical subject of reservations to treaties [ … ]: for some, reservations are an absolute evil because they cause injury to the integrity of the treaty; for others, to the contrary, they facilitate a broader adhesion and, thus, universality (Pellet, 2013, p. 323).
In addition to generating divisive opinions, the subject of reservations is also noted as one of the most complex parts of treaty law (Swaine, 2006, p. 307). This is in part because the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), while establishing rules on reservations applicable to all treaties, is vague on some fundamental issues (such as the legal effect of objections to reservations). The VCLT’s regime on reservations consists of six short articles and does not provide a comprehensive framework.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Arms Trade TreatyWeapons and International Law, pp. 397 - 404Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2021