International Agreements and the Czech Legal Order

The opening part of the paper explains the problem of the validity of an international agreement and its national effectiveness. Artide 52 of the new Czech Constitution says "to enter into force, international agreements approved by the Parliament must be promulgated." However, an international agreement is a source of anoter legal system far different from the Czech national law. Therefore the force of its rules is regulated exclusively by international law. There is no "national force" of an international agreement, just national applicability, as a special type of the applicability of an agreement. The home application of international agreements is possible due to the fact that the system of international law and that of national law are connected by certain "bridges". Tbey are always the norms of the system the norm is to be reflected in, as only the norms of such a system may decide what "alien" norms are to be applied in its area of application. A good illustration of the international/national law direction is Article 10 of the Constitution. Thereby the necessary condition of the national applicability of an international agreement is the publication in the Collection of Laws. The ideal situation would include the promulgation of an international agreement with direct national effect at least on the day it comes into force. However, reality is different. International agreements are published in the Czech Republic sometimes several months later.

Further comment is given on the provisions of the Act No. 545/1992 Coll., On the Collection of Laws and the provisions of the directive of the Govermnent of the Czech Republic concerning the promulgation of international agreements. In the conclusion an analysis is given of the eventual retroactivity international of agreements made or promulgated late.