What happens if a treaty is not registered?

Under Article 102(2) of the UN Charter, parties cannot invoke an unregistered treaty before any UN organ, including the ICJ, but the treaty remains legally binding between them.

Who registers a treaty?

Any party to the treaty may register it; in practice the depositary or the state that hosted negotiations usually does so by filing the certified text with the UN Treaty Section.

Are bilateral treaties also subject to registration?

Yes. Article 102 applies to every treaty and international agreement, whether multilateral or bilateral, concluded by a UN member state after the Charter entered into force in 1945.

Registration of Treaties Definition

Registration of treaties is governed by Article 102 of the UN Charter, which requires that "every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations" be registered with the Secretariat and published by it "as soon as possible." The provision was carried over from Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, which was Woodrow Wilson's response to the secret diplomacy blamed for the First World War. The underlying idea is straightforward: international commitments should be transparent and discoverable, not hidden in chancery drawers.

The mechanics are set out in the General Assembly's regulations to give effect to Article 102, originally adopted in 1946 and amended several times. Treaties are filed with the UN Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs and published in the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), a running compilation that now exceeds 3,000 volumes and is available through the UN Treaty Collection database.

The sanction for non-registration is found in Article 102(2): an unregistered treaty cannot be invoked "before any organ of the United Nations," most importantly the International Court of Justice. The treaty remains valid between the parties, but they lose the ability to rely on it in UN forums. The ICJ addressed this in Qatar v. Bahrain (1994), confirming that late registration is permissible and does not affect the agreement's binding force.

Several categories complicate the picture:

Non-member states and intergovernmental organizations may file and record agreements rather than register them.
Secret annexes and politically sensitive side letters are sometimes omitted, in tension with the Charter's purpose.
MOUs that the parties do not regard as treaties are generally not registered, though the Secretariat does not adjudicate that characterization.

Registration is ministerial, not constitutive: the Secretariat does not pass on validity, and registration confers no status the agreement does not already possess.

Several categories complicate the picture:

Non-member states and intergovernmental organizations may file and record agreements rather than register them.
Secret annexes and politically sensitive side letters are sometimes omitted, in tension with the Charter's purpose.
MOUs that the parties do not regard as treaties are generally not registered, though the Secretariat does not adjudicate that characterization.

Registration is ministerial, not constitutive: the Secretariat does not pass on validity, and registration confers no status the agreement does not already possess.

Frequently asked questions

Go deeper than the definition

Frequently asked questions

Go deeper than the definition