Tarptautinių sutarčių ir kitų tarptautinių susitarimų sudarymas Lietuvos ir užsienio valstybių teisėje: gerosios praktikos beieškant
Conclusion of International Treaties and Other International Agreements Under the Law of Lithuania and Other States: Searching for the Best Practice

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the definition of international treaties and other international agreements (so called international administrative agreements / executive agreements/ inter-agency agree-ments and soft law agreements) under the law of the Republic of Lithuania and numerous other states and compares differences in the practice of their conclusion. The author seeks to compare various instruments and to classify them in accordance with their legal status and, later, to use such classification as a basis for further study of divergent state practice. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the practice of conclusion of international treaties and other international agreements in different (mostly European) states and to identify practices that could serve as an inspiration for the improvement of Lithuanian legislation. The paper is structured in two parts. The first part provides a classification of various international agreements noting differences in their definitions and status in national laws. It firstly analyses the concept of treaties in the legal doctrine, international instruments and Lithuanian law, while in a separate sub-chapter addressing the specific status of EU mixed agreements. The article then shifts attention to international agreements concluded by min-istries or other state institutions or bodies and soft law agreements in the law and practice of various states. In the second part, the author evaluates the conclusion of international treaties and other international agreements under the Lithuanian law and practice. It systematises the interpretations presented by the Constitutional Court of Lithuania and scrutinises two main national legal acts in this field - the Law on International Treaties and the Rules on Preparation and Conclusion of International Treaties. Based on this comparative research, the article suggests re-structuring the Rules on Preparation and Conclusion of International Treaties by amending their name to include other international agreements and by pooling the provisions regulating other international agreements into a separate chapter. It also proposes to draft guidelines for preparation of other international agreements in order to improve their quality and to harmonise their conclu¬sion procedures. Lastly, for the sake of higher transparency and useability, it is suggested to publish these agreements in a publicly accessible and searchable database.

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