International Treaties

• full stops should not be used in abbreviations, in accordance with the Punctuation rule; and
• capitalisation should adhere to the Capitalisation rule.

• the full date on which the treaty was opened for signature should be included between the treaty name and the treaty series citation; and
• the full date on which the treaty entered into force (or, if not yet in force, then the phrase 'not yet in force' or 'due to enter into force <full date>') should be included in parentheses at the end of the citation.

• the full date on which the treaty was signed by all the parties should be included, between the treaty name and the treaty series citation; and
• the full date on which the treaty entered into force (or, if not yet in force, then the phrase 'not yet in force' or 'due to enter into force <full date>') should be included in parentheses, at the end of the citation.

NOTE: This is common in bilateral treaties.

• If the names of the states parties to a bilateral treaty do not appear in the title, they should be listed after the date of signature and should be separated by an en-dash.
• It is not necessary to list the parties to a multilateral treaty.

• All treaties should be cited according to the most authoritative citation, which is usually the United Nations Treaty Series (‘UNTS’).

• The order of preference for citations is:

• a primary international treaty series, eg the UNTS OR the League of Nations Treaty Series (‘LNTS’);
• the Australian Treaty Series (‘ATS’);
• an official treaty series of the other state party, eg the United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (‘UST’);
• another international treaty series, eg the Consolidated Treaty Series (‘ConTS’).

• Where a treaty between members of the European Communities does not appear in a treaty series, the Official Journal of the European Communities (‘OJ’) should be cited (see Official Journal of the European Communities).

• If the treaty is not published in a treaty series, other materials such as the International Legal Materials (‘ILM’) may be cited.

• Parallel citations should not be used.

• When citing the Treaty Series, for example 1465 UNTS 85:

• The first number (1465) refers to the volume number
• The second number (85) refers to the page on which the Treaty starts

Slavery Convention, opened for signature 25 September 1926, 60 LNTS 253 (entered into force 9 March 1923).

Treaty between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the Zone of Cooperation in an Area between the Indonesian Province of East Timor and Northern Australia, opened for signature 11 December 1989, Australia–Indonesia, [1991] ATS 9 (entered into force 9 February 1991) (‘Timor Gap Treaty’).

Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora, opened for signature 2 June 1964, UKTS 1978 No 45 (entered into force 12 November 1982).

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, opened for signature 21 May 1997, 36 ILM 700 (1997) (not yet in force).

Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, opened for signature 16 September 1988, [1989] OJ L 319 (entered into force 1 January 1992).

• The same numbering system as the treaty uses should be used for specifying articles in both the text and footnotes, ie art IV; art 34. Page numbers should not be cited.

• The pinpoint reference must go before the date of entry into force, and is preceded by a comma.

• The following abbreviations should be used in pinpoint references to a treaty within the text or in section titles, except where the word appears at the start of a sentence:

articles

section

sections

subsection

subsections

paragraph

paragraphs

schedule

schedules

appendix

arts

s

ss

sub-s

sub-ss

para

paras

sch

schs

app

• If several consecutive articles, sections or paragraphs are referred to, the first and last of these articles, sections or paragraph numbers should be included and should be separated by an en-dash.
• If the articles, sections or paragraphs cited are not consecutive, the article, paragraph or section numbers should be separated by commas rather than ‘and’.

non-consecutive:

ss 5, 7, 9

• For treaties, the first and last numbers of a span should be written in full. That is, the page span rule does not apply here.

• If a treaty is cited frequently, an officially designated short title or common abbreviation may be used after the initial full citation.

• The initial citation should contain the abbreviated treaty name in single quotation marks and italics, enclosed by parentheses after the date of entry into force:

<Treaty Name>, opened for signature <Full date>, <treaty series citation>, <Pinpoint> (entered into force <Full date>) (‘<Abbreviated Treaty Name>’).

In subsequent references, ‘above n’ may be used:

<Abbreviated Treaty Name>, above n <fn no>.

• Memoranda of understanding are to be cited in the same way as treaties, except that a UN Document Number should be included if available:

<Memoranda of Understanding Name>, opened for signature <Full date>, <Treaty Series Citation>, <UN Doc no (if available)>, <Pinpoint> (entered into force <Full date>).