Referencing - International Law: Bilateral treaty

This guidance applies whether you found the treaty in print or online.

title | (parties to bilateral treaty) | (opened for signature date OR signed/adopted date, entered into force date) | treaty series reference

Footnote and bibliography:
e.g. Rehabilitation and Development Co-operation Agreement (Australia-Nauru) (signed 5 May 1994, entered into force 5 May 1994) ATS 1994 15

To pinpoint, follow the citation with the relevant term or abbreviation and a number. To pinpoint several articles or paragraphs, insert a dash between the numbers:
e.g. Rehabilitation and Development Co-operation Agreement (Australia-Nauru) (signed 5 May 1994, entered into force 5 May 1994) ATS 1994 15 arts 4-5

• Do not include 'The' at the beginning of the title
• Use capitals for the major words
• Include details of amendments in the title, if necessary
• Include parties to a bilateral treaty in (round brackets) after the title with party names separated by a dash, e.g. (Australia-Nauru).

• If parties can accede to the treaty, cite the full date that the treaty was opened for signature
• Otherwise, cite the date that it was signed or adopted
• If available, then give the date that it entered into force.

Treaties are divided into articles and paragraphs.

These divisions are referenced using either a term (e.g. article 4) or an abbreviation (e.g. art 4) as follows:

• In a footnote, use the abbreviation
• In the text of your work, use either the term or the abbreviation but...
• Use the term at the beginning of a sentence
• When referring to paragraphs, always use the abbreviation.

If citing a paragraph as part of an article, use only the abbreviation for the article. For example, paragraph 1 of article 6 of the Rehabilitation and Development Co-operation Agreement (Australia-Nauru) is referenced as follows: Rehabilitation and Development Co-operation Agreement (Australia-Nauru) (signed 5 May 1994, entered into force 5 May 1994) ATS 1994 15 art 6(1).