Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The fact that, as with all other decisions, the conclusions of the imple-
mentation committee are submitted to the meeting of the parties for
acceptance can pose practical problems. These decisions are considered
legally binding only in academic literature. States have clearly stated that
they do not consider these decisions to be legally binding.
Amendments
In international environmental regulation, a model has been developed to
amend an agreement fl exibly so that it is consistent with updated scientifi c
research about a particular threat and its severity. The model was fi rst devel-
oped with the LRTAP framework convention; it initially accepted general
principles and rules, which were then supplemented as knowledge increased
by the negotiation of new protocols into the treaty regime.
The main problem is that according to classical international law, as sover-
eigns, states must accept each amendment. As we have seen above, this has
often resulted in untenable situations: an amendment to an international
environmental agreement is urgently needed but the only way to accomplish
it is to create a protocol or to make a formal amendment. There are two
drawbacks:
1 If an amendment requires a certain number of states to ratify it, it may take
a long time to enter into force, even though it has been urgently needed
for some time (or it may never enter into force).
2
Even if an amendment enters into force, certain states may be party to one
amendment but not to others. This fragments the treaty system by estab-
lishing different obligations for each party. Such a situation is untenable
from the point of view of the unity of the treaty regime.
This is why environmental treaties have started to create accelerated amend-
ment procedures which can react to new information about an environmental
threat quickly if necessary. These regimes tend to differentiate between regu-
lar obligations and technical amendments, the latter of which can be amended
in an accelerated manner.
A prime example is the ozone regime, which can perform technical amend-
ments by qualifi ed majority. As a result, a state can become legally bound to a
technical amendment without its consent. The ozone regime has managed to
accelerate schedules for the reduction of CFC compounds. Another good
example is the amendment procedure of the MARPOL Convention (on
ocean pollution). Unless an amendment is objected to by one-third of all
parties, or the parties controlling 50 per cent of merchant fl eet tonnage, the
annex amendment is automatically accepted. In practice, amendments are
generally made by consensus so that there are no objections; under the
MARPOL Annex, states are given a specifi ed time period in order to register
their objection to a proposed amendment.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search