Only the contract that has entered into force causes legal consequences. This means that it becomes legally binding on participants. In accordance with the Vienna Conventions, the procedure and date for the entry into force of a treaty are established in the treaty itself or agreed upon by its parties. Thus, treaties may enter into force on the date of signature, ratification, exchange of instruments of ratification or delivery of a certain number of instruments of ratification to the depositary, etc.
In international law, the entry into force of an international treaty is regulated by the following rules.
1. If a treaty does not require such means of expressing consent to be bound by an international treaty as ratification, approval or approval, it most often provides for entry into force from the date of signature, since consent to be bound can be expressed by signing. In such cases, the following formula is used: “This agreement comes into force on the date of signing” (possible options: “from the date of signing”, “from the moment of signing”). However, the contract may also provide for a specific date, for example, “January 1, 1995.” The text of the agreement may also provide for a certain period after which the agreement comes into force, for example: “This agreement comes into force after 90 days from the date of signing.” This period is determined in each specific case by the need to carry out certain preparatory measures for the implementation of an international agreement, for which a certain amount of time must be spent.
2. When exchanging documents forming an agreement, most often the agreement comes into force either on the day of exchange of identical notes or letters, or from the date of the response note, if the exchange is made in the form of an offer to conclude an agreement and a response to this offer. In this case, a period may also be established after which the contract comes into force. If the exchange of documents requires approval or another procedure, the agreement may also enter into force from the date of exchange of notifications (or the last notification) about the completion of such procedures.
3. In the case where a bilateral treaty is subject to ratification, it is usually provided for its entry into force on the date of exchange of instruments of ratification. It may also be envisaged that it will come into force upon the expiration of a certain period from the date of exchange of documents. Multilateral treaties subject to ratification, approval, acceptance or approval generally provide for entry into force on the date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, approval, acceptance or approval with the depositary. It may also be possible to provide for the expiration of a certain period from the date of deposit of the relevant document. The entry into force of a treaty providing for accession occurs in a similar manner. The terms of entry into force may be agreed upon by the parties separately.
4. In the event that there is a discrepancy between the procedures necessary for the entry into force of a certain international treaty, it is customary to include the following formula in the text: “This treaty comes into force from the date of the last notification (option: “from the date of exchange of notifications”) on the implementation by the Parties of domestic (options: “provided for by national legislation, constitutional”) procedures necessary for its entry into force.”
If the states participating in the treaty agree on this, the treaty may be temporarily in force even before it comes into force. A treaty or part thereof may be applied before its entry into force if this is provided for by the treaty itself or if the states participating in the negotiations agree on this.
In general, every international treaty has a territorial or spatial scope. As a general rule, treaties do not have retroactive force and are binding on each participant in relation to its entire territory, unless otherwise specified, but a number of multilateral treaties provide for a spatial sphere other than the territory of states. Examples include the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 and the Treaty on Principles for the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, 1967.
The complex territorial scope is provided for in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which covers areas ranging from internal sea waters to airspace over the high seas.
Each valid agreement is binding on the participants. Parties must fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed under the treaty and cannot invoke the provisions of their domestic law as an excuse for their failure to comply with the treaty (Article 27 of the Vienna Convention of 1969), however, the operation of international treaties is sometimes closely related to the problem of third states or third international organizations, which are understood as states or organizations that are not parties to the treaty. In principle, a treaty does not create obligations or rights for third states or international organizations without their consent. At the same time, states or other subjects of international law, when concluding an agreement, often provide for rights and obligations for third parties. The right for a third state arises from the provision of the treaty if its parties had such an intention and if the third state itself agrees to this.
Interpretation of international treaties is the determination of their actual meaning and content. Application of the agreement is impossible without understanding the actual content of its provisions in relation to specific conditions.
Any international treaty must be interpreted in good faith. This means, in accordance with the Vienna Convention 1969, that terms used in a treaty are to be given their ordinary meaning in their context and in the light of the object and purpose of the treaty. The text of the treaty must be interpreted in conjunction with the preamble and appendices, as well as with any agreement relating to the treaty. In this case, any document drawn up by one or more participants as a document relating to the contract is taken into account. The interpretation takes into account any subsequent agreement regarding the interpretation of the application of the treaty, subsequent practice in the application of the treaty and any rules of international law that apply between the parties. A term used in a contract may be given a special meaning if the parties had such an intention.
The preparatory materials and the circumstances of the conclusion of the contract may be used as additional means of interpretation only if the interpretation leads to unclear or ambiguous conclusions or to results that are manifestly absurd or unreasonable.
If the interpretation is carried out by the parties to the treaty themselves, then such an interpretation is called authentic, since this type of interpretation is based on the agreement of the parties and therefore has the highest legal force. Authentic interpretation takes place in the form of exchange of notes, minutes, etc.
Along with authentic interpretation, the so-called international interpretation, which is carried out by international bodies, is widely used. This form of interpretation may be provided for in the treaty itself. The International Court of Justice, various commissions, etc. can act as bodies involved in the international interpretation of international treaties.
Interpretation is also carried out using special methods (techniques), which include grammatical (verbal), logical, historical and systematic interpretation of contracts.
Grammatical (verbal) interpretation means understanding the meaning of individual words and the meaning of the contract on the basis of grammatical and other rules. Logical interpretation means the interpretation of a particular article of a treaty on the basis of other articles or comparing them with each other. The text of the agreement must be used as a single, integral document. The systematic type of interpretation involves interpreting a treaty by comparing its provisions with other treaties. Sometimes a significant amount of time passes from the moment the agreement is concluded, and certain difficulties arise in understanding its actual content, for example, the purposes of the agreement, its individual provisions and terms, and therefore they resort to the so-called “historical” method of interpretation.
More on topic 7.4. Entry into force of the agreement:
- 12.5. Entry into force of the agreement. Effect of an international treaty
- Creation and entry into force of international treaties of the Russian Federation
- 7.5. Conclusion of an international treaty and its entry into force. Effect of an international treaty
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In this case, it is considered terminated from the moment the Bookmaker Company cancels the Client’s registration.
12.6. The Client has the right to refuse to fulfill this Agreement at any time during its validity by canceling his registration in the System and bringing this fact to the attention of the Bookmaker Company in the ways established by this Agreement and the Rules of the Bookmaker Company.
When does the contract come into force?
As a general rule, an agreement comes into force from the moment of its conclusion (clause 1 of Article 425 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). From this moment it becomes binding on the parties. Often the contract comes into force from the moment it is signed by the parties.
How to indicate in a contract that it comes into force from the moment of signing
To do this, write: “This agreement comes into force from the moment it is signed by the parties.” Typically this condition is included in the final provisions of the contract.
Please note that if such a condition exists, the contract will enter into force at the time of signing only if it coincides with the moment of its conclusion established by law. For example, if the conclusion of a contract requires the transfer of property, the presence of such a condition will not change this rule.
Other options for the entry into force of the agreement are also possible. In particular, this is possible if your counterparty avoids concluding a contract that is binding on him and you demand that this be done through the court. In this case, the agreement, as a general rule, will be concluded from the moment the relevant court decision enters into legal force. These are, for example, agreements such as:
- public contract . For example, the insurer avoids concluding a compulsory motor liability insurance agreement (clause 4 of article 445, clause 3 of article 426 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, article 1 of the Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance);
- main contract after the preliminary one. In addition, the court may indicate in the decision a different moment for concluding the main contract if you and the counterparty have disagreements regarding its terms (clause 5 of Article 429 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
When the contract comes into force if the date of conclusion specified in it does not coincide with the date of actual signing
In this case, the effective date of the contract is determined depending on whether you can confirm the real date of its signing. If yes, then it is from her that the contract will be considered concluded and the contract will come into force.
As a rule, the actual date can be confirmed if the signatory personally indicated it next to his signature. But most often, a situation arises when the header of the agreement contains one date, but in reality the parties sign the agreement later or earlier and do not make any notes about it. In the absence of evidence that the contract was actually signed on a different date, it is considered that it comes into force on the date indicated in the header. If you and the counterparty did not meet to sign the agreement, but exchanged signed copies, then the agreement will come into force on the day when you receive from the counterparty a previously signed copy of the agreement (clause 1 of article 425, clause 1 of article 433 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation ).
What is retroactive force of a contract and when does it apply?
The retroactive force of a contract is the application of its terms to relations that arose before its conclusion. That is, if there is an actual relationship between you and the counterparty (for example, you rent out the premises, and he regularly pays) and then you enter into an agreement in which you stipulate that it applies to the rental relationship that existed between you previously.
If an actual relationship existed between you, but you did not agree on the retroactive effect of the agreement, it will not be possible to apply the terms of the agreement to these relationships. In particular, the landlord will not be able to collect rent from the tenant for this period in the amount specified in the agreement, but will only have the right to demand payment of unjust enrichment. Moreover, its size may turn out to be much lower than the rent (clause 1 of Article 1102, clause 2 of Article 1105 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Please note that it is impossible to apply the retroactive force of the contract if this is contrary to the law or otherwise follows from the essence of the relationship (clause 2 of Article 425 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). For example, it is impossible to give retroactive force to a license agreement for the period when the licensor did not have rights to the result of intellectual activity.
When does the contract expire?
If there is a condition in the law or in the contract that with the expiration of the contract the obligations of the parties are terminated, then the contract will terminate exactly at the time specified in it (clause 3 of Article 425 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The exact end point must be determined based on how you set the end date of the contract:
- specific date. As a rule, it is included in the term of the contract and is the last day of its validity. But if you used the preposition “until” in the wording of the deadline, the situation becomes ambiguous. In the event of a dispute, the court may determine that you used the preposition “before” to mean “not including the date following this preposition.” And then the last day of the agreement will be the day that precedes the date specified in the agreement;
- expiration of a period of time. In this case, use the rules for calculating terms in civil law to calculate the end of the contract term;
- an indication of an event that must inevitably occur. The contract will expire depending on the wording in the contract. For example, on the day of this event, the day after it or the day before it;
- an indication of the action or inaction of one of the parties, or other circumstances. The contract will also terminate depending on the wording: for example, before, after or on the day the circumstance occurs.
Please note: if the law or agreement does not indicate that the obligations of the parties terminate with the expiration of its validity period, the agreement continues to be valid until the moment of completion of the obligations specified in it, even if formally the term of the agreement has already expired (Clause 3 of Article 425 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) .
Another situation is that the contract states that it is valid until all obligations under it are fulfilled. In this case, the courts take the position that the contract is concluded for an indefinite period. It acts in the same way as a contract in which the validity period is not specified.
If the contract does not specify the expiration date of the contract
Good afternoon Please tell me, can a contract for the provision of services be without a specific validity period? ?Takes effect from the moment of signing, and no end date is specified. Thank you in advance for your answer Collapse Victoria Dymova Support employee Pravoved.ru Try looking here:
- Is it possible to cover the amount of debt under a service agreement with other fictitious service agreements, dividing them into smaller amounts?
- Is it possible to conclude an additional agreement to a contract for the provision of services, the validity period of which has expired, but the services are provided and paid for?
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Attention
The Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides that an agreement comes into force and becomes binding on the parties from the moment of its conclusion, but the parties have the right to establish in the agreement that the terms of the agreement they have concluded apply to their relations that arose before its conclusion. That is, we conclude an agreement today, but it stipulates that everything that happened (figuratively speaking) yesterday and the day before yesterday is regulated by the same agreement. It’s very convenient for those in a hurry (the business is on fire, but they’re putting up with paperwork) and slobs (they’ve already done something, but they’re too lazy to draw up an agreement).
If the beginning of the term of the agreement is not specified in its text, and the date of signing by each of the parties is not indicated, then it will begin to operate from the date specified in the preamble. The duration of the contract can be indefinite (going to infinity until its termination) or definite - limited. An indefinite period occurs when: 1. If yt indicates the duration of the contract, how long is it in force? Would it be correct to assume that until the parties want to terminate this contract, it will be in force? Or does it turn out that this agreement was valid only for one batch of goods? That is, the buyer submitted an application, the seller shipped the goods, the buyer paid - that’s it, the obligations were fulfilled, the contract was terminated? Or we are obliged to apply the terms of Art. to this agreement. 460 of the Civil Code, which establishes the validity period of the supply agreement (if it does not specify a period) - only one year? But we don’t have a Great Dane. deliveries, but purchases and sales. If the validity period of the contract is not indicated, how long is it valid? By the way, concluding a new contract without terminating the old one is also not good, since two simultaneously valid contracts arise, which can also introduce confusion and vacillation into the work. If the contractor has started the work, but through his fault it is not completed within the time period established by the contract, and the customer has not lost interest in having this work performed by this contractor, the contract is valid until the final completion of all the work. In the event that the customer, without expecting proper fulfillment of the obligations stipulated by the contract, after the expiration of the work period, makes a demand to the contractor for compensation for losses incurred by him caused by this violation, the contract should be considered terminated. When deciding on the validity period of an obligation in the absence of a validity period in the contract, it is necessary, guided by Article 59 of the Fundamentals of Civil Legislation, to find out the actual will of the parties, taking into account the purpose of the contract.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (Determination No. 52-KG14-1 dated February 3, 2015) considered the dispute over the contract
.
The plaintiff, a contractor under a work contract, obliged the defendant (customer) to perform general construction and finishing work in the volumes specified in the contract. The work was completed by the plaintiff and accepted by the defendant
, which was confirmed by signed orders for the work performed, while
the defendant did not pay for the work
, which served as the basis for
filing a lawsuit
. The court of first instance, as well as the court of appeal, refused to satisfy the claim
.
The court of first instance came to the conclusion that the contract was not concluded
, since when signing the contract the parties did not agree on the subject of the contract (scope of work and their result), the deadline for completing the work, the price of the contract, that is, they did not reach an agreement on all the essential terms of the contract. The court also considered as inadmissible evidence copies of work orders for work performed, confirming the fact that the work was completed and its acceptance by the customer’s representative.
The appellate court agreed with the conclusion that the contract was not concluded
, and also rejected the argument of the appeal that between the plaintiff and the defendant, in fact, a relationship had developed that was regulated by the chapter on work contracts of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The actual performance of the work, according to the appellate court, has no legal significance, since the parties to the contract have not reached an agreement on all its essential terms.
The Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not agree with the conclusions of the appellate court for the following reasons.
The court indicated that in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 740 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the essential terms of the construction contract are the subject and deadline for the work.
The court indicated that the annex to the contract contains a list of work to be performed.
The court indicated that the deadline for completing the work should be determined by Article 314 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
This article establishes that in cases where the obligation does not provide for a deadline for its fulfillment
and does not contain conditions allowing to determine this period,
it must be fulfilled within a reasonable time
after the obligation arises.
An obligation not fulfilled within a reasonable time, the debtor is obliged to fulfill within seven days
from the date the creditor presents a demand for its fulfillment, unless the obligation to perform within a different period of time follows from the law, other legal acts, terms of the obligation, business customs or the essence of the obligation.
It should be noted that from June 1, 2015, Article 314 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation will be stated in a new edition
.
In particular, it will provide that in cases where the obligation does not provide for a deadline for its fulfillment
and does not contain conditions allowing to determine this period,
the obligation must be fulfilled within seven days
from the date the creditor submits a demand for its fulfillment, if the obligation to perform another period is not provided for by law, other legal acts, terms of the obligation, or does not follow from customs or the essence of the obligation.
That is, from June 1, 2015, the creditor is not obliged to wait for the expiration of a reasonable period for execution,
and may immediately present a demand for performance in this case,
the debtor is obliged to fulfill the obligation within seven days.
The court also indicated that the work was actually completed by the plaintiff (contractor) and accepted by the defendant (customer), in such circumstances the fact that the contract was not concluded
should not influence the decision
on the collection of costs for work performed
.
The court indicated that in confirmation of the completion of a certain amount of work and their cost, the plaintiff presented copies of work orders for the work done; the witness confirmed that he signed these acts on behalf of the defendant and handed them over for payment.
Under these circumstances, the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court canceled the appeal ruling and sent the case for a new trial.
This definition will be taken into account by lower courts when making decisions on similar disputes.
By the way, concluding a new contract without terminating the old one is also not good, since two simultaneous contracts arise, which can also introduce confusion and vacillation into the work. In such cases, it is worth making a reservation in the newly concluded agreement that from the moment of its conclusion, all contracts, agreements, etc. previously concluded by the parties. lose their power. The main disadvantage of contracts with a limited duration is that in the case of long-term cooperation they require constant monitoring. Otherwise, having jumped beyond the validity period, you violated the law - you did not comply with a simple written form, and for what was done outside the validity period of the contract, you cannot ask the counterparty to the full extent of the contract - you have a non-contractual relationship.
Does the contract terminate if all obligations under it are fulfilled?
Yes, the contract will terminate, but provided that the obligations under it are properly fulfilled. This follows from the meaning of paragraph 1 of Art. 408 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. For example, if the contractor provided services and the customer paid for them, such a contract will be terminated by execution.
The contract will terminate earlier than the period specified in it if, for example, it was concluded for a period until the end of the year, but was executed earlier, in October. In the remaining two months, the agreement will not be valid, executed, or obligate the parties. It also cannot be terminated.
If the obligations were fulfilled improperly, the contract will continue to be valid. And the parties will bear the responsibility stipulated by them, including after the contract expires (clause 4 of article 425 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
