Foreign & International Blog

The Travaux Préparatoires are official documents recording the negotiations, drafting, and discussions during the process of creating a treaty.  These documents may be consulted and taken into consideration when interpreting treaties.  Travaux Préparatoires of a specific treaty are often unpublished or inaccessible, and difficult to locate even when these documents have been published in a collated volume.  So, to help you with your search, we have begun to collect the available Travaux Préparatoires for international treaties online and in our catalog, and created a resource under Foreign and International Law Resources titled “Travaux Préparatoires.”  If the item is physically located in the library, we scanned and attached the table of contents so you can easily tell if the item might help you with your research. This is an ongoing project that we would like to make accessible to anyone doing Travaux research, so please let us know if you come across a Travaux source that is not included here.

Many problems arise when hunting for the Travaux Préparatoires of a specific treaty, especially when the information is unpublished.  After determining the official name of the treaty, you should begin by searching the Travaux Préparatoires database we have compiled.  If your treaty is not included, then you need to search databases, such as Morris, EBSCO, and WorldCat, for the treaty name and the term “travaux” – the most efficient search method is to put the treaty name in one set of parentheses and term “travaux” in another.  If published Travaux Préparatoires are available for your treaty, either in book or article form, these searches should locate them. 

Should these searches not be fruitful, you may also search for resources and publications on your treaty without the term “travaux.”  Sometimes these resources include information and summaries on the drafting and negotiations that took place during the treaty-making process, which would include references to official Travaux Préparatoires documents that you can then look up.  Occasionally, information on a treaty may be online, with references listed, some of which may be or lead to Travaux documents.  Although all treaties have associated Travaux Préparatoires documents, these may be restricted information, or are oftentimes not collected and collated into a user-friendly format.  Locating Travaux Préparatoires, in this case, would involve combing through documents from the UN or other government resources, and it may be best to consult a reference librarian for assistance.

                 Yale faculty and students can subscribe to the monthly newsletter of the Peace Palace Library, undoubtedly the premier international law library in the world, known not only for its contemporary collection, but also for its historical resources. While much of the newsletter relates to local events such as the commemoration of the 367th birthday of  Hugo Grotius  in Delft or the activities of the Centre for Studies and Research, it also points to valuable research tools, most particularly the research guides developed by the library staff e.g. the history of international law.

               The newsletter also recommends books on given topics, as well as blogs. One can also subscribe to the library’s weekly new acquisition lists. The Yale Law Library studies these religiously, and orders many of the titles noted. In addition, the newsletter has interesting features,  such as interviews of notable scholars of international law, e.g.  Professor Masahuru Yanagihara, President of the Japanese Society of International Law and Professor of International Law at Kyushu University.  

                                                                                                    Dan Wade

                                                                       Curator of the Foreign and International Law Collection

If you are citing to a treaty in a law review article, The Bluebook is very particular about what resources to cite.  Surprisingly for many researchers, The Bluebook requires citations to United States publications over citations to publications from international bodies, such as the United Nations.  The following will serve as a guide on citation.

If the US is a party to the treaty:

• look for publication in the United States Treaties and Other International Agreements ("UST" - in print, and online).   This series began in 1950 and the last published volume was in 1984, so despite the fact that this is the first place you are forced to go, it is the least likely place to have the treaty you need. 

• Treaties that predate the creation of the UST were published in the Statutes at Large (Stat.) series, which are also available both in print and online.

If the treaty you are trying to find is not published in either the UST or Stat. at Large, you can cite one of the following sources (given in the order of preference):

• Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) - in print and online.  .
• Treaty Series - in print and online.
• Executive Agreement Series - in print and online.  

If the treaty you are looking for is not in one of these US sources, then search for it in these international sources:

• United Nations Treaty Series – in print and online.  This series can be found in the hallway between L1 and the UES.  We recommend pulling volumes when possible because the UNTS website can be difficult to navigate, and some of the treaty files are extremely large and difficult to download as a pdf.  The UNTS is also available on Hein.
• Senate Treaty Documents
• The Department of State Dispatch
• Department of State Press Releases

An unofficial source can be cited if the agreement you are looking for does not appear in any of the above sources.

If the US is not a party to the treaty, cite a source published by an international organization. 

• You are most likely able to find your treaty in the UN Treaty Series given above, but there are other regional organizations such as the Organization of American States Treaty Series (OASTS), that might have the treaty. 
• If the treaty predates the UN, the UN website does have the League of Nations Treaty Series as well.  This series is also on Hein and in print.  If the treaty predates the League of Nations, you will probably need to turn to an unofficial source (see below for more information).

Some intergovernmental sources include:

• European Treaty Series
• Organization of American States Treaty Series
• Council of Europe Treaty Series

If the treaty does not appear in any of the above required sources, cite to International Legal Materials (ILM), available in print and online.

Should the treaty not appear in ILM, you would need to cite to another unofficial treaty source, such as the Consolidated Treaty Series (Consol. T.S.).  The Consolidated Treaty Series is an excellent place to find treaties that predate the UN and the League of Nations.

There are dozens of other potential publications to consult, especially if you are looking for investment and tax treaties.

For more information, please feel free to contact Ryan directly 

On 6th September 2012, Myanmar passed a new foreign investment law that would replace its 1988 foreign investment law.  The Myanmar government’s plans for economic expansion are clearly reflected in this new law, in which the stringent regulations previously in place for foreign investors are relaxed.  Implementation of this new law is delayed by Myanmar’s President Thein Sein, however, in order for amendments to be made, which will hopefully clarify certain parts of the law and make it more flexible and attractive to potential foreign investors.  President Thein Sein suggested amendments to a clause that limits the foreign stake in joint ventures to 50 percent, as he believes that the joint venture ratio should not be fixed but be dependent on the business sector in question.  Furthermore, the required minimum investment by foreign investors currently set at $5 million will also be reconsidered so as not to rule out smaller investment deals.  President Thein Sein also wants to clarify the section of the legislation that discusses four of the eleven restricted sectors – namely, production and services, agriculture, livestock, and fishing – and the extent local businesses and foreign investors are to be involved in each of these sectors.

Earlier this year, economic sanctions previously instituted by Western nations against Myanmar were relaxed, thus allowing more foreign investment in the country.  As of 27th September 2012, U.S. sanctions, which include a ban on Myanmarian imports since 2003, will also begin to be lifted “in recognition of the continued progress toward reform and in response to requests from both the government and the opposition…” said the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  As Myanmar’s largest export to the U.S. before the ban were garments, this lifting of import restrictions bodes well for the country’s garment industry. 

President Thein Sein was warmly received at the United Nations on 27th September 2012 as he addressed the General Assembly.  In his speech, Thein Sein discussed how Myanmar is changing and making progress on the path of democracy.  In a landmark moment, he congratulated and publicly expressed admiration for the main opposition leader, Noble laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who met with Secretary Clinton during her visit to Myanmar in 2011, the first visit by a Secretary of State in over 50 years.

As an aside, I was in Myanmar in August, when I browsed through the New Light of Myanmar (a government-owned newspaper published by the Ministry of Information famously quipped "the New Blight of Myanmar" by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi due to its misinformation and censorship of news) I was surprised to see I could stay up to date on current events near my home in North Haven!  Entitled “Conn town settles dispute over girl’s pet bunny,” the report tells of a heartwarming story in which a North Haven girl was given permission to keep her Flemish Giant rabbit despite zoning regulations prohibiting the keeping of livestock on properties smaller than two acres.

- Ryan