Paris  Agreement:  Immediate  Next  Steps

Ratification & Entry into Force

Introduction• Entry into force of an international Agreement is the official

moment an international agreement takes effect fully and officially.

• There are various components to this process before an agreement enters into force.

o Often includes national legal analysis and assessment to ensure the agreement is compatible with national law.

o Formal signing of the agreement – subject to ratification

o Ratification at domestic level

o Deposit the instrument of ratifications with the UN depository.

o Agreement enters into force when the special triggers of the Agreement are met.

Legal  terminologySign

ature

Does  not  establish  the  state’s  consent  to  be  bound,  but  creates  an  obligation  to  refrain,  in  good  faith,  from  acts  that  would  defeat  the  general  objectives

Not  enough  to  enable  a  country  to  become  a  Party to  the  Paris  Agreement.

By  signing,  parties  expresses  the  willingness  to  continue  in  the  process  of  ratification,  acceptance  or  approval.  Ratificatio

n

The  act  whereby  a  state  indicates  its  consent  to  be  bound  by  a  multilateral  treaty

Implies  that  State  have  taken  all  required  measures    for  transferring  the  treaty  to  its  domestic  jurisdictional  system

The  process  of  ratification  varies  from  state  to  state,  according  to  the  demands  of  their  respective  Constitutions.  

Provisions  in  the  Paris  Agreement  on  entry  

into  force• Article 20: This Agreement shall be open for signature and subject

to ratification, acceptance or approval by …Parties to the Convention. It shall be open for signature at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 22 April 2016 to 21 April 2017.

• Thereafter, this Agreement shall be open for accession from the day following the date on which it is closed for signature.

• Article 21 : The Agreement shall enter into force on the 30th dayafter the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 % of total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary.

• Article 26: The Secretary-General of the United Nations will act as the Depositary of the Agreement

Meeting  the  two  triggers…

Trigger I Trigger II

Accounting  for  55%  of  total  Global  

GHGs

At  least55  Parties

China

USA

EU

Russia

China

USA

EU

Secretariat Inventory

• http://unfccc.int/files/ghg_data/application/pdf/table.pdf

Ready  to  ratify

• Number of SIDS (Fiji, Palau, Marshal Island, Tuvalu…) have completed parliamentary process and ready to sign and deposit their instruments of ratification.

• Countries can also provisionally all of the provisions of the Agreement pending its entry into force(Parties are requested to provide notification of any such provisional application to the Depositary).

INSTRUMENT  OF  RATIFICATION

Whereas  the  (title   of  the  Convention)  is  open  to  ratification  by  (name  of  country)..  under  the  terms  of  its  Article  ..(number  of  applicable  Article)

Now  therefore  the  Government  of  (name  of  country)  having  considered  the  aforesaid  Convention  hereby  ratify  the  said  Convention  and  undertake  

faithfully  to  carry  out  the  stipulations  therein  contained  

IN  WITNESS  THEREOF,  I  have  signed  and  sealed  this  instrument.

Done  at  (place)  the  day  of  (date)

(Signature)

Head  of  State  or  Prime  Minister  or  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs

(seal)

With  the  instrument  of  ratification…

• Parties can also mention whether they plan to apply the Agreement provisionally

• Communicate updated INDC which will become the NDC for the Paris Agreement implementation

• Communicated NDCs will be displayed in the public registry created by the UNFCCC Secretariat until the permanent registry is established.

• http://unfccc.int/focus/ndc_registry/items/9433.php

• No timeline in the Article 21. Intentional decision by Parties. • Triggers of the entry into force can be met before 2020 and

the Paris Agreement can be implemented from the day it enters into force.

• First Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) will be held after the Agreement’s entry into force

• APA will complete its work by the first CMA• CMA will adopt the work forwarded to it by the APA. • Countries that are not parties to the Paris Agreement will not

be part of the CMA process.• Currently, nationally determined contributions will be

implemented from 2020.• If the two triggers are not met by 2020, the Agreement will

not be implemented from 2020.

Implications  of  possible  early  entry  into  

force

Merci!