The article analyses provisions of Article 15(4) of the 1993 Russian Constitution which states that “generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation shall make an integral part of its legal system. The rules of the international treaty shall always apply”. In accordance with the Federal Law of 1995 “On International Treaties of the Russian Federation” the provisions of officially published international treaties that do not require domestic acts for implementation, shall apply directly. Other provisions of international treaties are implemented through legal acts. Some Russian jurists have taken the view, shared by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, that article 15(4) of the Constitution must be construed to mean that only ratified treaties take precedence over laws. Such a position originates in concepts of hierarchy of legal acts. This would mean that treaties not subject to ratification fall outside the scope of article 15(4) of the Constitution. Limiting the operation of article 15(4) to ratified international treaties only is unconstitutional. Refusing to apply a treaty concluded without ratification would prejudice the authority of the state, which bears state responsibility for the obligations assumed under intergovernmental and interdepartmental treaties. In this regard article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties provides that “A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty”.
Place of international treaties in domestic law, hierarchy of legal acts, domestic implementation of treaties, direct applicability, principle “pacta sunt servanda”, internal law, observance of treaties.
1. Butler W. Russian Federation. The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement: A Comparative Study / ed. by D. Sloss. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
2. Expression of Consent by States to be Bound by a Treaty. Analytical Report and Country Reports. Part II: Country Reports. Netherlands. Sommittee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI). Council of Europe. CAHDI (2001) 3. Strasbourg, 23 January 2001.
3. Expression of Consent by States to be Bound by a Treaty. Part II: Country Reports. Russian Federation.
4. Zimnenko B. L. Mezhdunarodnoe pravo i pravovaya sistema Rossiyskoy Federatsii. M., 2006.
5. Ivanenko V. S. Mezhdunarodnye dogovory, Konstitutsiya i pravovaya sistema Rossiyskoy Federatsii: evolyutsiya sootnosheniya i tendentsiya vzaimodeystviya. Rossiyskiy ezhegodnik mezhdunarodnogo prava 2009. SPb., 2010.
6. Ispolinov A. S. Status mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov v natsional´nom prave: nekotorye teoreticheskie i prakticheskie aspekty. Rossiyskiy yuridicheskiy zhurnal. 2014. № 1.
7. Ispravlennomu - verit´. Aleksandr Bastrykin predlagaet ustanovit´ prioritet natsional´nogo prava nad mezhdunarodnym. Rossiyskaya gazeta. 2015. № 90. 28 apr.
8. Karandashov I. I. Neposredstvennoe deystvie norm mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov v pravovoy sisteme Rossiyskoy Federatsii: avtoref. dis.... kand. yurid. nauk. SPb., 2013.
9. Lukashuk I. I. Sovremennoe pravo mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov. T. II: Deystvie mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov. M., 2006.
10. Marochkin S. Yu. Deystvie i realizatsiya norm mezhdunarodnogo prava v pravovoy sisteme Rossiyskoy Federatsii: monografiya. M., 2011.
11. Osminin B. I. Voprosy samoispolnimosti mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov (na primere SShA, Niderlandov i Rossii). Zhurnal rossiyskogo prava. 2012. № 6.
12. Osminin B. I. Mezhdunarodnye dogovory i ierarkhiya istochnikov vnutrigosudarstvennogo prava. Zhurnal rossiyskogo prava. 2012. № 11.
13. Petrova E. A. Mezhdunarodnye dogovory v pravovykh sistemakh Rossii i SShA: sravnitel´no-pravovoy analiz. Zhurnal zarubezhnogo zakonodatel´stva i sravnitel´nogo pravovedeniya. 2014. № 2.
14. Punzhin S. M. Pravovaya sistema Rossii i mezhdunarodnoe pravo (variatsii na temu stat´i S. V. Bakhina). Pravovedenie. 2010. № 2.
15. Tunkin G. I. Osnovy sovremennogo mezhdunarodnogo prava. M., 1956.
16. Usenko E. T. Sootnoshenie i vzaimodeystvie mezhdunarodnogo i natsional´nogo prava i rossiyskaya Konstitutsiya. Moskovskiy zhurnal mezhdunarodnogo prava. 1995. № 2.
17. Usenko E. T. Teoreticheskie problemy sootnosheniya mezhdunarodnogo i vnutrigosudarstvennogo prava. Sovetskiy ezhegodnik mezhdunarodnogo prava 1977. M., 1979.
18. Ferdross A. Mezhdunarodnoe pravo. Per. s nem. M., 1959.
19. Chernichenko S. V. Vzglyad na opredelennye polozheniya Konstitutsii Rossiyskoy Federatsii s mezhdunarodno-pravovykh pozitsiy. Vestnik Diplomaticheskoy akademii MID Rossii. M., 2013.
