Международные договоры в российской правовой системе (к 20-летию Федерального закона «О международных договорах Российской Федерации»)

Abstract

The article analyses provisions of Article 15(4) of the 1993 Russian Constitution which states that “generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation shall make an integral part of its legal system. The rules of the international treaty shall always apply”. In accordance with the Federal Law of 1995 “On International Treaties of the Russian Federation” the provisions of officially published international treaties that do not require domestic acts for implementation, shall apply directly. Other provisions of international treaties are implemented through legal acts. Some Russian jurists have taken the view, shared by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, that article 15(4) of the Constitution must be construed to mean that only ratified treaties take precedence over laws. Such a position originates in concepts of hierarchy of legal acts. This would mean that treaties not subject to ratification fall outside the scope of article 15(4) of the Constitution. Limiting the operation of article 15(4) to ratified international treaties only is unconstitutional. Refusing to apply a treaty concluded without ratification would prejudice the authority of the state, which bears state responsibility for the obligations assumed under intergovernmental and interdepartmental treaties. In this regard article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties provides that “A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty”.