Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
This article suggests a tentative model for the legal conceptualization of the great variety of instruments by which international institutions exercise public authority, brought to light by the thematic studies of this project. If one were to display this variety of instruments on a scale that ranges from binding international law to non-legal instruments, hardly any thinkable step on this scale would remain empty. Situated at the top end of the scale one would find binding instruments such as international treaties, periodic treaty amendments, decisions on individual cases with binding effect or decisions having the potential to become binding by way of domestic recognition. While these instruments clearly have external legal effects, other instruments seem to be purely internal rules of procedure, although they have in fact considerable repercussions for national administrations. Next come various types of soft, i.e. non-binding legal instruments. Some of these instruments operate in the shadow of binding instruments. Others are kept in purely soft form, like product standards or codes of conduct, but also decisions concerning individuals. In the lower part of the scale one would find instruments containing non-binding rules that are foremost aimed at facilitating consultation, or soft private law instruments. At the bottom end one would discover non-legal instruments that are devoid of any deontic elements, but nevertheless have a high legal or political impact on the affected policy area. Examples of this class of instruments include factual assessment reports, indicators, reports on implementation and compliance, and databases.
1 I use the term “binding” instrument as a heuristic category, defined as those instruments which can be ascribed to one of the traditional sources of international law stipulated in Article 38(1) of the Statute of the ICJ. On the difficulties related to the distinction between binding and non-binding norms, see Part E.Google Scholar
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4 Listings of terror suspects by the UN Security Council Taliban and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, see Feinäugle, in this issue; Conferral of world heritage status by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, see Zacharias, in this issue; Waivers for WTO members for implementing changes in the Harmonized System, see Feichtner, in this issue; decisions by the Enforcement Branch of the Compliance Committee for the Emission Trading System on, e.g., the reduction of emission rights due to past non-compliance, see Láncos, in this issue.Google Scholar
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6 The “HS Procedure” for adapting WTO scales of concessions to changes in the WCO Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, see Feichtner, in this issue; the accounting rules for the administration of ETS allowances, see Láncos, in this issue; and the Operational Guidelines of the World Heritage Committee, see Zacharias, in this issue.Google Scholar
7 The term “non-binding legal instrument”, which I use in a strictly heuristic sense, is not an oxymoron. Rather, it is based on a relative concept of law which comprises both binding law and non-binding law, see, infra, Part B.I. On the problems related to a conceptual distinction between binding and non-binding law see, infra, Part E.Google Scholar
8 Refugee Status Determination by UNHCR, see Smrkolj, in this issue; ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, see de Wet, Governance Through Promotion and Persuasion, in this issue; general and country-specific recommendations of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, see Farahat, in this issue.Google Scholar
9 Codex Alimentarius, see Pereira, in this issue; FAO Codes of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, see Friedrich, in this issue; OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, see Schuler, in this issue.Google Scholar
10 Interpol notices, see Schöndorf-Haubold, in this issue.Google Scholar
11 Proceedings before National Contact Points in case of complaints for violations of the OECD Guidelines for MNEs, see Schuler, in this issue; country visits and confidential follow-up reports by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, see Farahat, in this issue; as well as the HS Procedure, see (note 6).Google Scholar
12 Decision letters concerning ICHEIC insurance claims, see Less, in this issue.Google Scholar
13 Only instruments with a significant prevalence of deontic vocabulary expressing commands, requests, and recommendations may be termed legal. As it is sometimes difficult to make a precise distinction between facts and norms at a theoretical level, my distinction between “legal” and “non-legal” instruments is rather heuristic than systematic. In most cases, though, it will not cause any practical difficulty. On the differences between facts, norms and normative facts, see Robert Brandom, Making it Explicit 623–6 (1994). For a critical assessment, see Habermas, Jürgen, From Kant to Hegel. On Robert Brandom's Pragmatic Philosophy of Language, 8 European Journal of Philosophy (2000) 322.Google Scholar
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16 Many examples are mentioned in the thematic studies. See, for example, the review mechanism in the Committee on Trade in Financial Services installed on the basis of China's Accession Protocol to the WTO, see Windsor, in this issue.Google Scholar
17 In the context of Interpol, see Schöndorf-Haubold, in this issue.Google Scholar
18 On the concept of public authority, see von Bogdandy, Dann & Goldmann, in this issue.Google Scholar
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24 By “our approach,” I mean the concept set out in von Bogdandy, Dann & Goldmann, in this issue. It goes with out saying that not all aspects of this approach are shared by all participants in the project.Google Scholar
25 “Gedanken ohne Inhalt sind leer, Anschauungen ohne Begriffe blind.” (Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind): Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft 75 (2nd ed., 1787).Google Scholar
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47 Theorists like Austin, Kelsen, Hart, and Luhmann generally follow an absolute approach.Google Scholar
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53 This is particularly the case of financial regulations which are usually made by developed states.Google Scholar
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55 Ravi Afonso Pereira, in this issue; Gefion Schuler, in this issue.Google Scholar
56 Jürgen Friedrich, in this issue.Google Scholar
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67 Similar Peters & Pagotto (note 40), at 9; Tietje, Christian, Recht ohne Rechtsquellen?, 24 Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie 27 (2003).Google Scholar
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169 Some exceptions confirm the rule. See ECJ, Case C-376/98, Germany v. Parliament and Council (Tobacco Advertising), 2000 E.C.R. I-8419; Bundesverfassungsgericht, Case 2 BvF 1/01 (Altenpflegegesetz), 106 BVerfGE 62.Google Scholar
170 Feichtner, in this issue.Google Scholar
171 Windsor, in this issue.Google Scholar
172 See also von Bernstorff, in this issue.Google Scholar
173 Schulze-Fielitz, Helmuth, Art. 20 (Rechtsstaat), in Grundgesetz-Kommentar, margin number 113 (Horst Dreier ed., 2nd ed., 2006).Google Scholar
174 CITES recommendations; rules within the Emission Trading System of the Kyoto Protocol; the HS procedures of the WTO.Google Scholar
175 The Enforcement Branch of the Kyoto Compliance Committee.Google Scholar
176 Feinäugle, in this issue.Google Scholar
177 The World Heritage Committee Operational Guidelines.Google Scholar
178 Láncos, in this issue; Zacharias, in this issue; Farahat, in this issue; Fuchs, in this issue; von Bernstorff, in this issue.Google Scholar
179 Láncos, in this issue; Zacharias, in this issue.Google Scholar
180 Farahat, in this issue; Less, in this issue.Google Scholar
181 Bast (note 95), at 329.Google Scholar
182 Supra, notes 1 and 7.Google Scholar
183 In this sense, see Baxter (note 42), at 549; Neuhold, Hanspeter, The Inadequacy of Law-Making by International Treaties: “Soft Law” as an Alternative?, in Developments of International Law in Treaty Making 39, 48 et seq. (Rüdiger Wolfrum & Volker Röben eds., 2005); Alford, Roger, Federal Courts, International Tribunals, and the Continuum of Deference, 43 Virginia Journal of International Law 675 (2003). On the elusiveness of referrals to the intention to be bound, see Klabbers (note 57), at 65 et seq. Google Scholar
184 For an impressive deconstruction of intent see Klabbers (note 57), at 65 et seq. Google Scholar
185 d'Aspremont (note 43), at 10 (accepting reference to these instruments as “soft law”).Google Scholar
186 Friedrich, in this issue.Google Scholar
187 Klabbers (note 57), at 164.Google Scholar