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The official source of information on the status
of a treaty (which parties have ratified or
acceded, what date it comes into force, what
reservations particular parties have made etc.)
is the depositary body named in the treaty. The
depositary body can be consulted if the
information is not easily found in the published
indexes, online or in the treaty itself.
Free web sources
FCO website:
www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/publications-and-documents/treaties/depositary
This has the text of those treaties for which
the UK is the official depositary. Details of
their status and parties is given.
UN Treaty series website -
http://treaties.un.org/pages/ParticipationStatus.aspx
- this section of the UN website provides
information on the status of over 500 major
multilateral instruments deposited with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Council of Europe treaties -
http://conventions.coe.int/ - has a chart of
signatures and ratifications and a list of
declarations, reservations and other
communications. This provides both full text and
summaries of the complete European Treaty Series
(ETS) 1949-2003, and its continuation the
Council of Europe Treaty Series (CETS) 2004
onwards.
Treaties Office of DG External Relations of the
European Commission -
http://ec.europa.eu/world/agreements/default.home.do
- this gives full status information of all the
bilateral and multilateral treaties or
agreements concluded by the European Community,
the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) and
the former European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC),
and those concluded under the Treaty on European
Union.
Hard copy sources
Multilateral Treaties: Index and Current Status
by Bowman and Harris (1984, supplement 1993) -
this will give information on entry into force,
duration, reservations, parties, signatories.
Index to British Treaties by Parry (1970) -
gives information on the date of signing, entry
into force, duration and parties.
Multilateral Treaty Calendar by Wiktor (1998) -
gives information on the date of signing, entry
into force, parties, duration etc.
The texts mentioned above are not up to date.
Contact the FCO to get up to date status
information for UK treaties. The FCO contact
details are: tel: 020 7008 1109; email:
treaty.fco@gtnet.gov.uk
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Frequently Asked Questions: Researching Treaties |
