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Sunset Clauses in International Law and their Consequences for eu lawAll in all, a conflict between two treaties is not an academic exercise; Conflicts ariseIPOL STU(2022)703592 ENAll in all, a conflict between two treaties is not an academic exercise; Conflicts arise
when a court, authority or person in a specific situation does not know what law to apply, or what
obligation to abide by.
While the mere finding that two treaties are not in conflict under Article 30 of the VCLT, does not
preclude that they are not inconsistent. To put it differently, in cases of normative divergence
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it is
possible to harmonize the treaties via interpretation. On the harmonious interpretation, VCLT offers
guidance via Articles 31 and 32.
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That said, not all areas of international law are equally prone to normative conflicts. An area particularly
prone to normative conflicts is international environmental law for a number of reasons.
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Suffice to
mention here that environmental law is inherently a complex issue with conflicting goals due to the
tension between exploitation and preservation of natural resources. In addition, until recently, at least
before the Paris Agreement on Climate Change,
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regulatory devices were employed in a reactive
manner to address specific problems; for instance, in the aftermath of environmental disasters, without
addressing the interdependence of ecological issues.
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Theodoros Adamakopoulos and others v. Republic of Cyprus, ICSID Case No. ARB/15/49 [168].
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Suffice to mention here, Wolfram Karl, ‘Conflicts Between Treaties’ in R. Bernhardt (ed.),
Encyclopedia of Public
International Law
(1984), vii, at 467, 468; Rüdiger Wolfrum and Nele Matz, Conflicts in International Environmental Law
(Springer 2003), 4. However, the narrow definition of normative conflict is criticized by Vranes. Vranes argues that the
narrow definition of normative conflicts neglects the potential conflict between obligations, permissions and
prohibitions. For more details, see Erich Vranes, ‘The Definition of ‘Norm Conflict’ in International Law and Legal Theory’
(2006) 17 The European Journal of International Law 395.
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For instance, a normative divergence would arise ‘when one instrument eliminates exceptions provided for in another
instrument’. See C Wilfred Jenks, ‘The Conflict of Law-Making Treaties’, (1953) 30 British Yearbook of International Law
401, 426.
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. See United Nations, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155,
Article 31 and Article 32.
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For a complete analysis on the reasons explaining why international environmental law is prone to conflicts, see Rüdiger
Wolfrum and Nele Matz,
Conflicts in International Environmental Law
(Springer, 2003) 7.
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Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 12, 2015, T.I.A.S. No. 16-1104.
Sunset Clauses in International Law and their Consequences for EU Law
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