Publication of treaties - introductory note

It is the constitutional practice of the UK to lay treaties, which the UK has signed subject to ratification or its equivalent, or to which it intends to become party by accession, before both Houses of Parliament. Agreements entered into by the European Union (EU) which are subject to national ratification or its equivalent and amendments to multilateral treaties which require new legislation are also laid before Parliament. However, this practice does not apply to the following types of treaties:

• A treaty covered by Section 12 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002
• A treaty covered by Section 5 of the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008
• A treaty for which an Order in Council may be made under Section 158 of the Inheritance Act 1984, Section 2 of the Taxation (International and other Provisions) Act 2010 or Section 173 of the Finance Act 2006
• A treaty concluded (under authority given by the Government of the United Kingdom) by the Government of a British Overseas Territory, or any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaG) details the procedures for the ratification of treaties and puts Parliamentary scrutiny of treaties on a statutory footing. The Act received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010 and was brought into force on 11 November 2010 by a Statutory Instrument that was laid before Parliament. Under the Act all treaties (except those listed above) that are subject to ratification, acceptance, approval, the mutual notification of completion of procedures, or to which the UK intends to accede, cannot be ratified unless they have been laid by a Minister of the Crown before Parliament for 21 sitting days without either House having resolved that it should not be ratified. The Act details the procedures required if either House resolves that a treaty should not be ratified.

When a treaty is laid before Parliament it is accompanied by an Explanatory Memorandum (EM) which explains the provisions of the treaty and the reason for seeking ratification. 

Treaties laid before Parliament are in the form of a Command Paper, which is published in one of three FCO series:

• Country Series – for bilateral treaties
• Miscellaneous Series – for multilateral treaties
• European Community Series (European Union Series from 1 April 2011) – for treaties between Member States or between Member States and non-Member States or group of States.

When a treaty Command Paper is laid before Parliament it is sent together with its accompanying EM to the relevant Department Select Committee in the House of Commons.

When a treaty enters into force for the UK (whether this is on signature or following ratification, accession etc), it is published again in the Treaty Series of Command Papers and laid before Parliament. The EM is then linked to the Treaty Series document.

Prior to the introduction of the CRaG Act all treaties (other than the exceptions as above) that were subject to ratification, acceptance, approval, the mutual notification of completion of procedures or to which the UK intended to accede were laid before Parliament under the Ponsonby Rule.

Any subsequent changes to the status of treaties involving the UK are published bi-annually in the Supplementary List. 

Changes to the status of bilateral treaties involving the UK, subsequent actions concerning multilateral treaties and changes to the status of the treaties for which the UK is depositary can be found in a new Bulletin of recent changes to UK treaties in force. 

Links to published treaty texts:

Treaty Command Papers presented to Parliament - January 1997 onwards.

Explanatory Memoranda presented to Parliament from 1997.