Validez y Confiabilidad

The UN Convention on the Treaties Concluded Between States and International Organizations or Between Two or More International Organizations brings important provisions on the interpretation of treaties. Those rules are understood as a codification of customary international law, and therefore are a source of international law that can be used in interpreting the loan and guarantee agreement¹¹⁷. Article 31 states that a treaty should be interpreted taking into account its terms, the context in which it was drafted, any subsequent agreement or practice between the parties and also any relevant rule of international law¹¹⁸. This rather comprehensive

116 See Auerback, (1993).

117 There is an extensive literature on the Law of treaties, see e.g. Brownlie, (2003). See nuclear weapon case (judgment of M. Koroma and M. Weeramantry).

118 Article 31 reads as follows: General rule of interpretation

1. A treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose.

2. The context for the purpose of the interpretation of a treaty shall comprise, in addition to the text, including its preamble and annexes:

(a) any agreement relating to the treaty which was made between all the parties in connection with the conclusion of the treaty;

(b) any instrument which was made by one or more parties in connection with the conclusion of the treaty and accepted by the other parties as an instrument related to the treaty.

3. There shall be taken into account, together with the context:

(a) any subsequent agreement between the parties regarding the interpretation of the treaty or the application of its provisions;

(b) any subsequent practice in the application of the treaty which establishes the agreement of the parties regarding its interpretation;

(c) any relevant rules of international law applicable in the relations between the parties.

4. A special meaning shall be given to a term if it is established that the parties so intended.

provision establishes the framework for the legal interpretation of the agreement in the event of a dispute.

The provision on Article 27 of the Convention also deserves attention since it forbids both international organisations and states from invoking provisions of their internal law as an excuse for failure to perform their obligations under the treaty¹¹⁹. As mentioned above, this can be seen as a guarantee that no alteration to the political structure of member countries would influence their obligation in relation to the agreement concluded with the Bank. This brings credibility to the loan operations and an incentive for private investors to rely on such agreements.

Not only the agreements entered by the parties and rules in international conventions are part of the international law applicable to the relationship between the Bank and the borrower and guarantor. Other sources of international law might have a relevant role in interpreting and applying the loan and guarantee agreements. Article 38 (1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice determines the law that should be applied by the Court when solving international dispute. Despite being only binding on the ICJ, such Article is generally accepted¹²⁰ as the point of departure for discussions and application of international law. Therefore, it is worth mentioning its text:

The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply:

i) international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting States;

ii) international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;

iii) the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;

119Article 27 reads as follows: Internal law of States, rules of international organizations and observance of treaties: 1. A State party to a treaty may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform the treaty. 2. An international organization party to a treaty may not invoke the rules of the organization as justification for its failure to perform the treaty. 3. The rules contained in the preceding paragraphs are without prejudice to article 46.

120 See Brownlie (2003) and Malanczuk, (1997) Chapter 3.

iv) subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified public ists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.

The draft of the provision does not establish the order the Court has to follow when deciding a case based on international law. The Court could, for example, draw on general principles before applying conventions and customs¹²¹. It is possible that the four sources of international law are needed jointly to solve the dispute. Although the authority and legal quality of all sources should be recognised, it must also be mentioned that when treaties are formed they will override any customary rules between the parties (a special law prevails over a general law). However it is possible that over time treaties could be overridden by customs (a later law repeals an earlier law)¹²².

Customary law and general principles of law are very hard to distinguish in practice since both of them require wide acceptance by a representative majority of the principal legal systems in order to have an obligatory character. Nonetheless, it could be said such principles usually arise from parallel recognition of certain basic rules applied in similar situations, without the need of a legislative act either in national or international levels¹²³. They are, however, binding laws that will be identified by a comparative law study and adapted by an international judge or arbitrator to the specific needs of international relations.

Examples of general principles of law being applied by international courts include¹²⁴ the recognition of liability for negligenc e (although conditions for the determination of negligence may vary)¹²⁵, responsibility (for every injury of right the

121Harris, (2004).

122 Peter Malanczuk (1997).

123 See Mosler, (1995), pp. 511.-527.

124 Ibiden.

125 Ibiden. P.519

law gives a remedy)¹²⁶ and reparation of damages caused by illegal acts (such reparation should go as far as possible to “wipe out all the consequences of the illegal act and re -establish the situation which would, in all probability, have existed if the act had not been committed”. This will also include lucrum cessans)¹²⁷. Moreover, there are some principles related with the application and interpretation of treaties such as those defined in Articles 31 to 33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, that are recognised not just by the parties of that agreement but also as customary international law¹²⁸. Also, when Article 26 of the Vienna Convention requires good faith in the creation and performance of legal obligation, such rule is regarded as one of the basic principles of law whatever their source¹²⁹. Procedural rules can also be part of international law and recognised as a general source. To this extent the ICJ recognises that often the injured party will find difficulties in furnishing direct proof of the facts, giving rise to state responsibility and therefore, in those cases, a more liberal approach towards circumstantial evidence is necessary. According to the Court “this indirect evidence is admitted in all systems of law, and its use is recognised by international decisions”¹³⁰. Given the particular circumstances of the loan and guarantee agreements it might be possible to extend such principle to situations, giving rise to the responsibility of international institutions.