Article 44 1
TERMINATION OF PREVIOUS INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
1. The provisions of this Convention, upon its coming into force, shall,
as between Parties hereto, terminate and replace the provisions
of the following treaties:
(a) International Opium Convention, signed at The Hague on 23 January 1912;
(6) Agreement concerning the Manufacture of, Internal Trade in and Use of
Prepared Opium, signed at Geneva on 11 February 1925; (c) International Opium
Convention, signed at Geneva on 19 February 1925;
(d) Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of
Narcotic Drugs, signed at Geneva on 13 July 1931; (e) Agreement for the Control
of Opium Smoking in the Far East, signed at Bangkok on 27 November 1931;
(f) Protocol signed at Lake Success on 11 December 1946, amending the
Agreements, Conventions and Protocols on Narcotic Drugs concluded at The Hague
on 23 January 1912, at Geneva on I1 February 1925 and 19 February 1925 and 13
July 1931, at Bangkok on 27 November 1931 and at Geneva on 26 June 1936, except
as it affects the last-named Convention;
(g) The Conventions and Agreements referred to in subparagraphs (a) to (e) as
amended by the Protocol of 1946 referred to in subparagraph (f);
(h) Protocol signed at Paris on 19 November 1948 Bringing under International
Control Drugs outside the Scope of the Convention of 13 July 1931 for Limiting
the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, as amended by
the Protocol signed at Lake Success on I1 December 1946:
(i) Protocol for Limiting and Regulating the Cultivation of the Poppy Plant, the
Production of, International and Wholesale Trade in, and Use of Opium, signed at
New York on 23 June 1953, should that Protocol have come into force.
2. Upon the coming into force of this Convention, article 9 of the Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs, signed at Geneva on 26 June 1936, shall, between the Parties thereto which are also Parties to this Convention, be terminated, and shall be replaced by paragraph 2 (6) of article 36 of this Convention; provided that such a Party may by notification to the Secretary-General continue in force the said article 9.
Commentary
1. Article 44 terminates and replaces, as between Parties to the Single Convention, the multilateral narcotics treaties preceding that Convention with the exception of all provisions of the 1936 Convention other than its article 9. It does not and could not affect the obligation of Parties to the Single Convention towards States which are Parties to one or another of these earlier treaties but not to the Single Convention, to continue to carry out the provisions of the treaty concerned. The earlier narcotics treaties, including their provisions regulating the trade relations between two States, were concluded in the interest of all Parties, and in fact of the family of nations as a whole.
2. A Party to the Single Convention therefore cannot, on the basis of article 44, refuse to carry out control provisions of an earlier treaty to which it is still a Party so long as this treaty is not terminated in accordance with its own terms, or as long as all Parties to this treaty have not accepted the Single Convention. Such a refusal would affect the enjoyment by Parties to the earlier treaty in question which have not become Parties to the Single Convention of their rights under that treaty. 2
3. This situation will generally not cause any legal difficulties, because the implementation of the control provisions of the Single Convention is compatible with that of the earlier treaties, and because the Convention took over the substance of most of the rules of the earlier treaties, adding some new control provisions. There are, however, a few important earlier rules which were not taken over by the Single Convention, such as articles 6 and 7 of the 1953 Protocol. Under these provisions Parties to the Protocol may not import any other opium than that produced 3 in one of seven named countries, 4 may not import opium from non-Parties to the Protocol, 5 and are restricted in their right to dispose of seized opium. c It is submitted that, in accordance with what has been stated above, Parties to the Single Convention which are also Parties to the 1953 Protocol must apply also to their trade with other Parties to the Single Convention these provisions of the Protocol as long as the Protocol is in force in accordance with its own terms, 7 or until all of its Parties have become Parties to the Single Convention. The implementation by a Party to the Single Convention of these provisions of the 1953 Protocol would not be incompatible with its obligations under the Convention.
4. A Party to the Single Convention and to the 1936 Convention which makes
the notification mentioned in article 44, paragraph 2, continues to be bound by
article 9 of the 1936 Convention only towards those of the Parties to both
treaties which have made the same notification. Its obligation towards Parties
to the 1936 Convention which have not accepted the Single Convention would not
be affected by article 44.
1 For the texts of the treaties referred to in this article see the references in the list of abbreviations used in this Commentary, p. vii; the titles given to these treaties in article 44 do not always agree with those heading them in the volumes of the League of Nations and United Nations Treaty Series; as regards the Russian text of article 44, para. 1, subpara. (f) see United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 570, p. 346, Proces-Verbal of Rectification, signed at the Headquarters of the United Nations, New York, on 8 August 1966.
2 See also Vienna Convention of 23 May 1969 on the Law of Treaties, article 41, para. 1, subpara. (b); see also article 40, para. 4, article 30, para. 4, subpara. (b), article 54, para. (b) and article 58, para. 1, subpara. (b); document A/CONF.39/27.
3 Article 1 of the 1953 Protocol and article 1, para. 1, subpara. (t) of the Single Convention.
4 Protocol of 1953, article 6, para. 2, subpara. (a).
5 Ibid., article 6, para. 2, subpara. (b).
6 Ibid., article
7. Ibid., article 24.