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<br />000331 <br /> <br />DRAFT-Not for distribution <br /> <br />APPENDIX <br /> <br />Under the Vienna Convention, treaties are to be interpreted to take into account the <br />context in which they were put in place; any subsequent agreement between the parties regarding <br />the interpretation of the treaty or its application; and any subsequent practice in the application of <br />the treaty which establishes the agreement of the parties regarding its interpretation; any relevant <br />rules of international law applicable to the relations between the parties.21I Treaties are not to be <br />impliedly amended?12 <br /> <br />According to the Convention, a treaty may be voided as invalid for innocent error of fact <br />existing at the treaty's initiation, or inducement of consent by fraud, corruption or coercion <br />(effectively invalidating consent).213 A treaty may also be void ab initio if it conflicts with a <br />"peremptory norm of general international law." (See discussion in main text of peremptory <br />norms.) An existing treaty becomes void if a new peremptory norm of general international law <br />d" 214 <br />emerges urmg Its tenure. <br /> <br />Termination of a treaty pursuant to the Vienna Convention releases the parties from <br />further obligations to perform the treaty.215 The right to denounce a treaty as invalid, terminate <br />it, withdraw from it or suspend its operation must be exercised as to the whole treaty, except in <br />certain circumstances.216 Treaties invalidated pursuant to the Vienna Convention are void, but <br />prior reliance on a subsequently voided treaty entitles a party to expect to be placed in a position <br />with respect to its mutual relations with other parties as if the invalidating acts had not occurred. <br />Acts performed in good faith before the invalidity was invoked are not rendered unlawful by <br />reason only of the invalidity. Parties may not rely on their own fraud as a basis for equitable <br />expectations.217 The invalidity of a treaty does not relieve a farty from performance otherwise <br />required under intemationallaw independent of the treaty.21 Suspension of the operation of a <br />treaty under its provisions releases the parties from treaty obligations during the suspension, but <br />does not otherwise affect the legal relations of the parties?19 <br /> <br />Material breach of a treaty results from repudiation or violation of its provisions essential <br />to the accomplishment of the object or purpose of the treaty.220 A party may not invoke the <br />provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty. 221 A material <br />breach of a bilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles the other to invoke the breach as a <br />dfi .. . f '222 <br />groun or termmatlOn or suspensIOn 0 operatIOn. <br /> <br />Impossibility of performance is an excuse to material breach, unless breach is the cause <br />of the impossibility.223 Although a fundamental change of circumstances from those prevailing <br />at the time of a treaty's initiation was once recognized as a basis upon which to terminate a <br />treaty, such a change may now be invoked as a ground for termination or suspension of the <br />treaty's operation only if a) the existence of those circumstances constituted an essential basis of <br />the consent of the parties, b) the effect of the changed circumstances is radical transformation of <br />the extent of the obligations remaining to be performed under the treaty, c) the treaty does not <br />establish a boundary, and d) the fundamental change does not result from breach by the party <br />invoking the changed circumstances as grounds for termination?24 <br /> <br />20 <br />