The Role of Treaty Bodies in Monitoring Compliance with International Environmental Obligations

INTRODUCTION. A large number of international treaties regulating various spheres of international relations have already entered into force. As current practice shows, the emphasis has shifted from the need to regulate an increasing number of relationships to the importance of improving the efficiency of existing international treaties. The article analyzes the implementation of this process in international environmental law. The authors show that a number of global and regional environmental agreements have established quasi-judicial procedures (so-called "non-compliance procedures") in the form of implementation and compliance committees serving as international control mechanisms. The purpose of such mechanisms is to identify and resolve both local and systemic theoretical and practical issues of non-compliance arising from the provisions of international treaties.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The article is based on a large amount of material, including international binding legal acts, acts of advisory nature, and modern doctrinal research of Russian and foreign authors. The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific (methods of logical and system analysis, dialectical method, methods of deduction and induction) and private scientific (historical and legal, comparative legal, formal-legal methods, the method of legal modeling and forecasting) methods of cognition.

RESEARCH RESULTS. In their research, the authors analyzed various international binding and non-binding instruments, summarized doctrinal positions made by Russian and Western legal scholars, presented in domestic and foreign scientific literature, and identified the main issues of compliance committees of international environmental agreements.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The authors have tried to give answers to the following questions: is it necessary to fix in the text of international environmental agreements the provisions establishing the compliance committee, or can this be done later: at the annual meetings of the conferences of the parties; what should be the composition and mandate of the compliance committee; and how efficiently do these committees function? As a result of the conducted research, the authors have drawn conclusions about the need fo detailed monitoring of changes in the various international environmental agreements in order to improve the effectiveness of compliance committees in exercising their mandates and to identify violations of the mandates of these committees.

1. Abaturova V.A., Badretdinov R.M., Solntsev A.M. Soblyudenie konventsii o mezhdunarodnoi torgovle vidamidikoi fauny i flory, nakhodyashchimisya pod ugrozoi ischeznoveniya 1973 g. (SITES): problemy i perspektivy [Compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), 1973: problems and perspectives]. – Elektronnoe setevoe izdanie “Mezhdunarodnyi pravovoi kur'er”. 2021. No. 4. P. 1-9. (In Russ.)

2. Brunnee J. Enforcement mechanisms in international law and international environmental law. – Environmental law network international review. 2005. Issue 1. P. 3-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46850/elni.2005.001

3. Chayes A., Chayes A.H. The New Sovereignty: Compliance with International Regulatory Agreements. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1998. 417 p.

4. Eriksen H., Perrez F. The Minamata Convention: A Comprehensive Response to a Global Problem. – Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law (RECIEL). 2014. Vol. 23. Issue 2. P. 195-210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12079

5. International courts and environmental protection. Ed. By Stephens T. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2009. 233 p.

6. Klabbers J. Compliance procedures. – The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law. Ed. By D. Bodansky, J. Brunnee, E. Hey. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. P. 995-1009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552153.013.0043

7. Kodolova A.V. [et al.]. Aktual'nye problemy zashchity okruzhayushchei sredy Arktiki: vzaimodeistvie mezhdunarodnogo i natsional'nogo prava [Current Issues on Arctic Environmental Protection: Interaction of International and National Law]. – Elektronnoe setevoe izdanie “Mezhdunarodnyi pravovoi kur'er” 2021. No. 2. P. 24-32. (In Russ.)

8. Koester V. Compliance Committees within MEAs and the Desirability and Feasibility of Establishing Special Compliance Bodies under CITES. 2004. 11 p. URL: https://cites.org/sites/default/files/common/com/sc/54/E54i-03.pdf (accessed 02/02/2023)

9. Kopylov M.N. Vvedenie v mezhdunarodnoe ekologicheskoe pravo [Introduction to the international environmental law]. Moscow: RUDN Publ. 267 p. (In Russ.)

10. Koskenniemi M. Breach of a treaty or non-compliance? Reflections on enforcement of the Montreal Protocol. –Yearbook of International Environmental law. 1992. Vol. 3. P. 123-162.

11. Kravchenko S. The Aarhus Convention and Innovations in Compliance with Multilateral Environmental Agreements. – Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy. 2007. Vol. 18. Issue 1. P. 1-50.

12. Kuokkanen T. Putting gentle pressure on parties: recent trends in the practice of the Implementation Committee under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. – Nordic cosmopolitanism: essays in International law for Martti Koskenniemi. Ed. by J. Petman, J. Klabbers. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff. 2003. P. 315-326.

13. Medvedeva M. Razreshenie sporov v oblasti okhrany okruzhayushchei sredy v kontekste fragmentatsii sovremennogo mezhdunarodnogo prava [Settlement of environmental disputes in a context of fragmentation of modern international law]. – Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie. 2012. No. 3. P. 71-78. (In Russ.)

14. Redgwell C. Non-compliance procedures and the Climate Change Convention. – Inter-linkages: The Kyoto Protocol and the international trade and investment regimes. Ed. by Br. Chambers. New York: UN University Press. 2001. P. 37-48.

15. Redgwell C., Fitzmaurice M. Environmental non-compliance procedures and international law. – Netherlands Yearbook of International law. 2000. Vol 31. P. 27-36.

16. Sand P. Enforcing CITES: the rise and fall of trade sanctions. – Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law. 2013. Vol. 22. Issue 3. P. 251-263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12037

17. Sand P. International protection of endangered species in the face of wildlife trade: whither conservation diplomacy? – Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law. 2017. Vol. 20. Issue 1. P. 5-27. DOI: 10.4337/apjel.2017.01.01

18. Solntsev A.M., Petrova N. A. Kak zastavit' gosudarstva soblyudat' ekologicheskie prava cheloveka? [How do we make States to respect environmental human rights?]. – Mezhdunarodnoe pravo. 2010. No. 4. P. 41-49. (In Russ.)

19. Szell P. The development of multilateral mechanisms for monitoring compliance. – Sustainable development and International law. Ed. by W. Lang. The Hague: Graham & Trotman; Martinus Nijhoff. 1995. P. 97-109

20. Ulfstein G. Treaty Bodies. – The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law. Ed. by D. Bodansky, J. Brunnée, E. Hey. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. P. 877-890. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxford-hb/9780199552153.013.0038

21. Werksman J. Compliance and transition: Russia’s non-compliance tests the Ozone Regime. – Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht. 1996. No. 56. P. 750-773.

22. Zhukov G.P., Solntsev A.M. Problemy ekologicheski ustoichivogo ispol'zovaniya raketno-kosmicheskoi tekhniki [Problems of environmentally sustainable management of rocket and space technology]. – Evraziiskii yuridicheskii zhurnal. 2010. No. 11. P. 87-94. (In Russ.)