Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations in the United States

PART V

INVALIDITY, TERMINATION AND SUSPENSION
OF THE OPERATION OF TREATIES

SECTION 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 42

Validity and continuance in force of treaties

1. The validity of a treaty or of the consent of a State or an
international organization to be bound by a treaty may be impeached only
through the application of the present Convention.

2. The termination of a treaty, its denunciation or the withdrawal of a
party, may take place only as a result of the application of the
provisions of the treaty or of the present Convention. The same rule
applies to suspension of the operation of a treaty.

Article 43

Obligations imposed by international law independently of a treaty

The invalidity, termination or denunciation of a treaty, the
withdrawal of a party from it, or the suspension of its operation, as a
result of the application of the present Convention or of the provisions
of the treaty, shall not in any way impair the duty of any State or of
any international organization to fulfil any obligation embodied in the
treaty to which that State or that organization would be subject under
international law independently of the treaty.

Article 44

Separability of treaty provisions

1. A right of a party, provided for in a treaty or arising under article
56, to denounce, withdraw from or suspend the operation of the treaty may
be exercised only with respect to the whole treaty unless the treaty
otherwise provides or the parties otherwise agree.

2. A ground for invalidating, terminating, withdrawing from or
suspending the operation of a treaty recognized in the present Convention
may be invoked only with respect to the whole treaty except as provided
in the following paragraphs or in article 60.

3. If the ground relates solely to particular clauses, it may be invoked
only with respect to those clauses where:

(a) the said clauses are separable from the remainder of the treaty
with regard to their application;

(b) it appears from the treaty or is otherwise established that
acceptance of those clauses was not an essential basis of the consent of
the other party or parties to be bound by the treaty as a whole; and

(c) continued performance of the remainder of the treaty would not be
unjust.

4. In cases falling under articles 49 and 50, the State or international
organization entitled to invoke the fraud or corruption may do so with
respect either to the whole treaty or, subject to paragraph 3, to the
particular clauses alone.

5. In cases falling under articles 51, 52 and 53, no separation of the
provisions of the treaty is permitted.

Article 45

Loss of a right to invoke a ground for invalidating,
terminating, withdrawing from or suspending the operation of a treaty

1. A State may no longer invoke a ground for invalidating, terminating,
withdrawing from or suspending the operation of a treaty under articles
46 to 50 or articles 60 and 62 if, after becoming aware of the facts:

(a) it shall have expressly agreed that the treaty is valid or remains
in force or continues in operation, as the case may be; or

(b) it must by reason of its conduct be considered as having
acquiesced in the validity of the treaty or in its maintenance in force
or in operation, as the case may be.

2. An international organization may no longer invoke a ground for
invalidating, terminating, withdrawing from or suspending the operation
of a treaty under articles 46 to 50 or articles 60 and 62 if, after
becoming aware of the facts:

(a) it shall have expressly agreed that the treaty is valid or remains
in force or continues in operation, as the case may be; or

(b) it must by reason of the conduct of the competent organ be
considered as having renounced the right to invoke that ground.

SECTION 2. INVALIDITY OF TREATIES

Article 46

Provisions of internal law of a State and rules of an international
organization regarding competence to conclude treaties

1. A State may not invoke the fact that its consent to be bound by a
treaty has been expressed in violation of a provision of its internal law
regarding competence to conclude treaties as invalidating its consent
unless that violation was manifest and concerned a rule of its internal
law of fundamental importance.

2. An international organization may not invoke the fact that its
consent to be bound by a treaty has been expressed in violation of the
rules of the organization regarding competence to conclude treaties as
invalidating its consent unless that violation was manifest and concerned
a rule of fundamental importance.

3. A violation is manifest if it would be objectively evident to any
State or any international organization conducting itself in the matter
in accordance with the normal practice of States and, where appropriate,
of international organizations and in good faith.

Article 47

Specific restrictions on authority to express the consent
of a State or an international organization

If the authority of a representative to express the consent of a State or
of an international organization to be bound by a particular treaty has
been made subject to a specific restriction, his omission to observe that
restriction may not be invoked as invalidating the consent expressed by
him unless the restriction was notified to the negotiating States and
negotiating organizations prior to his expressing such consent.

Article 48

Error

1. A State or an international organization may invoke an error in a
treaty as invalidating its consent to be bound by the treaty if the error
relates to a fact or situation which was assumed by that State or that
organization to exist at the time when the treaty was concluded and
formed an essential basis of the consent of that State or that
organization to be bound by the treaty.

2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply if the State or international
organization in question contributed by its own conduct to the error or
if the circumstances were such as to put that State or that organization
on notice of a possible error.

3. An error relating only to the wording of the text of a treaty does
not affect its validity; article 80 then applies.

Article 49

Fraud

A State or an international organization induced to conclude a treaty
by the fraudulent conduct of a negotiating State or a negotiating
organization may invoke the fraud as invalidating its consent to be bound
by the treaty.

Article 50

Corruption of a representative of a State
or of an international organization

A State or an international organization the expression of whose
consent to be bound by a treaty has been procured through the corruption
of its representative directly or indirectly by a negotiating State or a
negotiating organization may invoke such corruption as invalidating its
consent to be bound by the treaty.

Article 51

Coercion of a representative of a State
or of an international organization

The expression by a State or an international organization of consent
to be bound by a treaty which has been procured by the coercion of the
representative of that State or that organization through acts or threats
directed against him shall be without any legal effect.

Article 52

Coercion of a State or of an international organization
by the threat or use of force

A treaty is void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or
use of force in violation of the principles of international law embodied
in the Charter of the United Nations.

Article 53

Treaties conflicting with a peremptory norm
of general international law (jus cogens)

A treaty is void if, at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts with
a peremptory norm of general international law. For the purposes of the
present Convention, a peremptory norm of general international law is a
norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as
a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be
modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having
the same character.