The status of multilateral export control regimes : An examination of legal and non-legal agreements in international co-operation

Sammanfattning: This thesis deals with the phenomenon of states concluding international agreements that are, explicitly or impliedly, of a non-legal character. It is first of all argued that states have the option under international law to conclude legally binding agreements or agreements that lack this quality. Subsequently, the thesis addresses the question of how to differentiate a legally binding transaction from a non-legal one. By means of an analysis of the substantive elements of treaties and unilateral declarations it is found that the distinction primarily relates to the subjective intention of the representatives concluding the agreement or making the declaration. Relating this subjective substantive element to the manifestly informal character of the concept of treaty and thenotion of unilateral declaration, i.e., the general lack of mandatory requirements as to the form of a valid transaction, it is concluded that an objective determination of the status of an ambiguous international transactionis often problematic. The question of the material differences between legally binding international agreements and non-legal agreements is also assessed. It is argued that there are substantial and important differences, and,consequently, that it is important to maintain the distinction. The theoretical observations made in relation to the phenomenon of non-legal agreements are also related to a defined empirical material-i.e., five multilateral export control regimes on the non-proliferation of weapons ofmass destruction. The analysis of the status of the foundational documents of these regimes largely corroborates the theoretical observations made as to the problems of determining the formal status of an ambiguous international agreement. The tentative conclusions drawn as to the status of the export control regimes under international law are subsequently related to a discussion of the domestic implementation of the regimes in one country. This study corroborates the finding that the foundational documents of the multilateral export control regimes are of a non-legal character.