Part 2: Ratification of Treaties
8.Part 2 of this Act puts Parliamentary scrutiny of treaty ratification on a statutory footing and gives legal effect to a resolution of the House of Commons or Lords that a treaty should not be ratified. This means that should the House of Commons take the view that the Government should not proceed to ratify a treaty, it can resolve against ratification and thus make it unlawful for the Government to ratify the treaty. The House of Lords will not be able to prevent the Government from ratifying a treaty, but if they resolve against ratification the Government will have to produce a further explanatory statement explaining its belief that the agreement should be ratified. Part 2 concerns scrutiny of the ratification of agreements entered into by the Government under international law. It does not change the current position that an Act of Parliament would be required if it were intended to give effect in domestic law to matters embodied in such an agreement.
