Treaties in Force is prepared by the Department of State for the purpose of providing information on treaties and other international agreements to which the United States has become a party and which are carried on the records of the Department of State as being in force as of its stated publication date, January 1, 2012.
The electronic edition of Treaties in Force is presented in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, which allows text searches and printing of individual pages or the entire document. Adobe reader is available for download, at no cost, by clicking the image below (40.99 MB download).
(A print edition of Treaties in Force is published annually in limited quantities to meet the needs of certain users who are not able to consult the on-line version.)
View or download Treaties in Force 2012
Arrangement
Treaties in Force is arranged in two sections. Section 1 includes bilateral treaties and other international agreements listed by country or other international entity with subject headings under each entry. Arrangements with territorial possessions of a country appear at the end of the entry for that country. In some cases, treaties and international agreements applicable to a territory prior to its independence are included in the entry for that country on the basis of its assumption of treaty obligations upon becoming independent, as noted at the beginning of the entry for that country. For convenience, some treaties and agreements concluded with countries whose name or statehood status has changed continue to be listed under the name in use at the time the agreement was concluded, if the title of the treaty or agreement has not been formally amended.
Section 2 lists multilateral treaties and other international agreements to which the United States is a party, arranged by subject. It will furnish a comprehensive list of parties to the agreements as of a certain date. We note, however, that the depositary for a treaty is the authoritative source for a current list of parties and information on other matters concerning the status of the agreement, and status information often changes. Treaties in Force now provides information on the depositary for the agreement in question, including an Internet site where available.
Scope and Status of Treaties and Other Agreements
Treaties in Force uses the term “treaty” in the generic sense as defined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, that is, an international agreement “governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation.” The term “treaty” as a matter of U.S. constitutional law denotes international agreements made by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate in accordance with Article II, section 2 of the Constitution of the United States. In addition to such “treaties”, this publication covers international agreements in force that have been concluded by the Executive (a) pursuant to or in accordance with existing legislation or a prior treaty; (b) subject to congressional approval or implementation, and/or (c) under and in accordance with the President’s constitutional powers.
Treaties in Force includes those treaties and other international agreements entered into by the United States which, as of the specified date, had not expired by their own terms, been denounced by the parties, replaced or superseded by other agreements, or otherwise definitely terminated. Certain agreements, particularly those concerned with World War II and the immediate postwar period, which contain continuing provisions or which have not been clearly terminated in their entirety are included even though operations under the agreements may have ceased. While all efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, the presence or absence of a particular agreement, as well as the details cited regarding a listed agreement, should not be regarded as a determinative of the status of the agreement. Some categories of agreements, such as those implementing certain other agreements, are deliberately omitted from this publication even though they constitute binding international agreements. If there is a question about the status or details of a particular agreement, the text of the agreement itself always should be consulted in the first instance. Please bring any suspected errors or omissions to the attention of the Office of Treaty Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Searching Treaties in Force
To search the document, open (or download and open) the PDF. Once in Adobe Acrobat reader, select the search button on the tool bar. This will open the Acrobat search function where you can do basic or advanced searches of the document.
