§ Mr. Michael SpicerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the cases involving the United Kingdom in which there have been adjudications of enforceability of declarations or agreements appended to international treaties, including EC treaties.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesIn the case of the EC treaties and the treaties amending them, there has been a practice of annexing protocols to the treaties and of adopting declarations in connection with conclusion of the treaties. By article 239 of the treaty of Rome, protocols annexed to the treaty form an integral part of it. They are, therefore, enforceable in exactly the same way as treaty provisions. A case involving the United Kingdom where this was done is Lord Bruce of Doningtonv. Aspden, case 208/80, applying the protocol on privileges and immunities of the European Communities. Conference declarations do not form an integral part of the treaty to which they relate, but, in accordance with the law of treaties, they are part of the context of the treaty for the purpose of its interpretation. I am aware of no decision of the European Court of Justice in which conference declarations of this kind have been pronounced upon.