Legal Issues of the Domestic Application of International Treaties

Domestic law and international law are both necessary to ensure the rule of law. Domestic law and international law are manifestations of the state’s will, and they are two closely linked legal systems that influence and permeate each other. In today’s economic globalization and increasingly close international exchanges and cooperation, the influence of international law on domestic law cannot be ignored. Only by truly applying the two kinds of rules, can China help to achieve scientific, modernized and rule-of-law governance. Although the recently passed the Law on Foreign Relations of China provides a general principle regarding the relationship between the Constitution of China and international treaties (that is, treaties and agreements that the State concludes or accedes to shall not contravene the Constitution), and the Constitution of China, as well as the Law on Foreign Relations contain provisions on the competence of state organs to conclude and ratify international treaties, they do not stipulate the principle of the relationship between international law and domestic law (other than the Constitution) or the status of international treaties in the country’s legal system. The lack of constitutional or constitutional law provisions has led to many uncertainties in the domestic application of treaties. It shows that the role and status of treaties, as the primary source of international law, have not attracted sufficient attention from China’s legislators. This chapter will mainly discuss the status of the domestic law of treaties in force, the realization of domestic effects, and the principles of domestic application.