Reasons for Proposal
Treaties duly concluded or promulgated under the Constitution have the same effect as the domestic laws and have a direct and significant influence on the State's key initiatives and the rights and obligations of the people. However, the authority of the National Assembly in the conclusion of a treaty is limited to consent to ratification of the treaty. Critics point out that where a treaty is directly associated with the rights and interests of the public, such a level of authority would be insufficient to guarantee the basic rights of the people since it does not fully ensure the timeliness and effectiveness of the treaty. Moreover, matters concerning agency-to-agency arrangements, which are non-binding agreements made between the government and a foreign government with respect to affairs under its jurisdiction, are partially prescribed in a Prime Minister's Directive. However, there is a need to govern such matters by law to reflect their importance, necessitating the corresponding modifications.
Accordingly, this bill stipulates such matters as a general and basic procedure for concluding treaties, various institutional devices to strengthen democratic control over the whole process of treaty conclusion, and grounds for agency-to-agency arrangements.
Details
A. Define “treaty” as all types of international agreements that are governed by international law and that have been concluded in written form between different States or international organizations; and define “agency-to-agency arrangement” as a non-binding, non-treaty agreement concluded by a central administrative agency or local government, within the scope of authority over affairs under its jurisdiction as per domestic law, with a foreign government agency or international organization that carries out the same or similar affairs (Article 2, subparagraphs 1 and 2)
B. Prescribe that the Minister of Foreign Affairs shall, via deliberation by the Treaty Conclusion Deliberation Committee, formulate a plan on treaty conclusion by the end of January each year and report on the plan to the National Assembly without delay (Article 5 and Article 6)
C. Establish the Treaty Conclusion Deliberation Committee under the Prime Minister to deliberate and vote on matters concerning treaties, and establish sectoral advisory committees consisting of private experts to advise the Treaty Committee on different areas of expertise (Article 7 and Article 8)
D. Prescribe matters concerning a procedure for conclusion, such as that the Minister of Foreign affairs shall, via consultation with the heads of the central administrative agencies concerned, prepare and pre-announce the proposed treaty and organize negotiation groups, etc. (Article 9 through Article 16)
E. Prescribe that where a proposed treaty that has been signed is a treaty specified by the Constitution, the ratified motion thereof shall be submitted to the National Assembly for ratification and be signed, and a treaty duly concluded and promulgated shall be submitted to the National Assembly within 10 days after the date of promulgation (Article 17 through Article 21)
F. Require the Minister of Foreign Affairs to assess and report to the National Assembly each year on the progress of treaties that have been concluded and promulgated (Article 22)
G. Prescribe matters concerning agency-to-agency arrangements, such as that a central administrative agency or local government shall only conclude agency-to-agency agreements on affairs in its jurisdiction, specifying an effective period of up to 5 years to prevent redundant conclusions and enhance the efficiency of post management (Article 26 through Article 29)
H. Prescribe matters concerning special cases on multilateral treaties and treaties in simplified form (Article 30 and Article 31)
