Ratification means that a country enters irrevocably into an international agreement. This takes place by each country submitting a special document (known as a ratification instrument) at the place where the countries have agreed to keep the documents. The ratification instruments concerning the EU’s treaties must be submitted in
When negotiations take place concerning international agreements/treaties, the countries’ governments first reach political agreement concerning the texts. Although this political agreement can be binding to an extent, it is not legally binding. In order for an agreement or treaty to be legally binding, the countries must ratify it. This means that the governments which have negotiated the agreement must once again agree it after it has been approved by their national parliaments in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions of the countries concerned.
The new Constitutional Treaty has not yet come into force. According to the Treaty itself, it will come into force on 1 November 2006, but this will require all EU countries to have ratified the Treaty by that date.
| A ratification instrument is the document by which governments confirm that they will comply with the treaty. |
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When the Irish voted against the Treaty of Nice in a public referendum, the Treaty’s existence was threatened, because the Treaty could not come into force unless all Member States had ratified it. In a subsequent public referendum in
The Treaty of Nice states that it will come into force on the first day of the second month after the last
The Irish Government submitted its ratification instrument on 18 December 2002 as the last EU country to do so, thus enabling the Treaty of Nice to come into force on 1 February 2003. |