Article 29: Territorial Scope Of Treaties
In: Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of TreatiesSearch for other papers by M.E. Villiger in
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Abstract
Colonial powers were confronted with issues of application of international treaties to their colonies. In the United Kingdom, treaties were regarded as applying automatically to overseas territories in the absence of a provision to the contrary; whereas in French practice the treaties did not apply to colonies. Article 29 goes back to Article 58 of the Waldock Report III of 1964. It is intended to provide certainty and security as to the territorial scope of the various States' undertakings with regard to a treaty. It falls primarily on the States parties to a treaty as sovereign entities themselves to determine the scope of application of the treaties. Article 29 provides the principal rule that a treaty is binding upon each party in respect of its entire territory. The territory covers the area over which a party exercises sovereignty and thus embraces all that State's land, territorial waters and air space.