Treaties In Force (US Department of State) in United States

Treaties In Force (US Department of State)

Treaties in Force is prepared by the Department of State for the purpose of providing information on treaties and other international agreements to which the United States has become a party and which are carried on the records of the Department of State as being in force as of its stated publication date, January 1, 2007.

The electronic edition of Treaties in Force (bilaterals and multilaterals) may be updated periodically throughout the year on the Treaty Affairs webpage.  It is presented in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, which allows text searches and printing of individual pages or the entire document.  Adobe reader is available for download, at no cost, by clicking the image below. 

(A print edition of Treaties in Force is published annually in limited quantities to meet the needs of certain users who are not able to consult the on-line version.  The print edition lists only those treaties on record at the time of publication as being in force for the United States on January 1 of each year.  Because the print edition is updated only annually, the electronic edition, in most cases, will better reflect the current status of U.S. treaties and international agreements.)

Arrangement

Treaties in Force is arranged in two sections.  Section 1 includes bilateral treaties and other international agreements listed by country or other international entity with subject headings under each entry.  Arrangements with territorial possessions of a country appear at the end of the entry for that country.  In some cases, treaties and international agreements applicable to a territory prior to its independence are included in the entry for that country on the basis of its assumption of treaty obligations upon becoming independent, as noted at the beginning of the entry for that country.  For convenience, some treaties and agreements concluded with countries whose name or statehood status has changed continue to be listed under the name in use at the time the agreement was concluded, if the title of the treaty or agreement has not been formally amended.

Section 2 lists multilateral treaties and other international agreements to which the United States is a party, arranged by subject. It will furnish a comprehensive list of parties to the agreements as of a certain date. We note, however, that the depositary for a treaty is the authoritative source for a current list of parties and information on other matters concerning the status of the agreement, and status information often changes. Treaties in Force now provides information on the depositary for the agreement in question, including an Internet site where available.

Scope and Status of Treaties and Other Agreements

Treaties in Force uses the term “treaty” in the generic sense as defined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, that is, an international agreement “governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation.”  The term “treaty” as a matter of U.S.constitutional law denotes international agreements made by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate in accordance with Article II, section 2 of the Constitution of the United States.  In addition to such “treaties”, this publication covers international agreements in force that have been concluded by the Executive (a) pursuant to or in accordance with existing legislation or a prior treaty; (b) subject to congressional approval or implementation, and/or (c) under and in accordance with the President’s constitutional powers.

Treaties in Force includes those treaties and other international agreements entered into by the United States which, as of the specified date, had not expired by their own terms, been denounced by the parties, replaced or superseded by other agreements, or otherwise definitely terminated.  Certain agreements, particularly those concerned with World War II and the immediate postwar period, which contain continuing provisions or which have not been clearly terminated in their entirety are included even though operations under the agreements may have ceased.  The absence of a listing for a particular agreement should not be regarded as a determination that it is not in force.

Searching Treaties in Force

To search the documents, select either  individual PDFs or the One File PDF. Once in Adobe Acrobat select the search button on the tool bar. This will open the Acrobat search function where you can do basic or advanced searches of the document.

If you have any questions or comments about Treaties in Force, please e-mail the Office of Treaty Affairs at treatyoffice@state.gov.

Publication of Treaties in Force

Treaties in Force is published annually by the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Treaty Affairs (L/T) for the purpose of providing information on treaties and other international agreements to which the United States has become a party and which are carried on the records of the Department of State as being in force as of a certain date. It has become a well-recognized resource utilized by L attorneys, Department employees, employees of other U.S. government agencies, courts, members of academia, and the general public.

The Treaty Editor in L/T is responsible for the preparation and publication of Treaties in Force, with the support and assistance of others in the office. The Treaty Editor reviews a number of sources and consults with the L/T staff to determine the international agreements or information that will be added, removed, or updated in the Treaties in Force. Among the sources reviewed by the Treaty Editor are the biweekly Case Act reports to Congress, vault treaty files, negotiating records, the data on the Treaty Information Management System, and information on the official websites of treaty depositaries. Only unclassified bilateral and multilateral agreements are listed in the Treaties in Force.

In order to provide more current information to users, the on-line version of Treaties in Force (posted on the Treaty Affairs webpage on the Open Net — www.state.gov/s/l/treaty) will be updated at least twice a year (to reflect treaties and other international agreements in force as of January 1 of that year, as well as on some later date in that same calendar year). In CY 2007, both the Bilateral and the Multilateral Sections of the Treaties in Force were made available electronically as PDF (Portable Document Format) documents on the Treaty Affairs webpage. At the time of release, the Treaty Editor drafts a bureau-wide message and arranges to have a Department Notice sent out on the publication. The Treaty Editor also works with an electronic resources librarian in IIP/IR to send a note to a State Department world-wide list serve network announcing the availability of the updated Treaties in Force.

The print version of Treaties in Force will continue to be published, albeit in smaller quantities than in prior years in order to save costs, time, and paper. The Treaty Editor is responsible for making arrangements with L/EX and the Department’s Global Publishing Solutions to publish and to distribute a limited number of hard copies of Treaties in Force in the most cost effective manner (generally in the Fall). The hard copies of Treaties in Force will continue to reflect the status of agreements as of January 1 of the calendar year in which they are published.

References and Citations in Treaties in Force