Ogłaszanie umów międzynarodowych jako warunek ich bezpośredniego stosowania - kilka uwag na marginesie polskiej praktyki
Official publication of international agreements as a condition of their direct effectiveness - few remarks concerning

Summary/Abstract: Article 9 of the Polish Constitution states: The Republic of Poland shall respect international law binding upon it. According to this provision all organs of public authority are obliged to ensure effectiveness of international agreements which are binding on Poland. The condition for direct effectiveness of international agreements in the national law (understood as a possibility of derivations rights and obligations for individuals from that agreements) is the official publication of the said conventions. This article analyses the provisions of Polish law governing the official publication of international agreements and assesses the long established practices in this area. As a result of this research several sensitive areas have been identified. First and foremost concerning the actual publication of concluded international agreements. Comparison of the number of international agreements concluded in years 2000-2008 available in the database of Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the number of international agreements announced in the Official Journal shows that only 57% of those agreements were properly published. Furthermore problems have also been identified as: - failure to publish information on entry into force and the changes pertaining to the actual number of contracting parties, - failure to publish information about the deposit of the ratifying documents or documents terminating the agreement, - lack of or incomplete information about reservations or objections to the agreements submitted by the contracting parties, which makes it difficult or even impossible to establish the exact scope of the agreement, - delays in official publishing of international agreements (very often documents are published many years after the ratification or even after coming into force). Each of the above mentioned deficiencies concerning the proper official publication of international agreements is not acceptable in the democratic state governed by the rule of law, respecting the binding rules of international law. The authors propose an amendment of the existing legal rules and practice. In conclusion certain proposals de lege ferenda and proposals in relation to existing practices aiming towards eliminating irregularities in the official publication of international agreements in Poland are formulated.

• Details
• Contents