Approximation or Harmonisation as a Result of Implementation of the Rome Statute

Abstract

Within the scope of international criminal law, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a treaty-based, self-contained regime. This chapter analyzes the implications of the Rome Statute system on national legal orders and on the broader context of international criminal law. It explains why the Rome Statute is not a treaty creating 'uniform law or legislation' in the subject-matter area that it addresses, and why the practice of States on national implementing legislation has varied concerning numerous aspects of both the international cooperation procedural framework and the substantive legal and jurisdictional elements of complementarity. The adoption of national implementing legislation to adapt domestic legal orders to the international regime of the Rome Statute is leading to a certain degree of harmonisation among diversified internal systems that may be labelled as 'approximation'. Keywords:harmonisation; international criminal court (ICC); international criminal law; Rome Statute; self-contained regime