The Czech Republic was created on 1 January 1993 after the division of Czechoslovakia into two independent and sovereign States. It is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with a bicameral Parliament, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The President of the Republic is the Head of State.

According to Article 63 of the Constitution of 16 December 1992 (Act No. 1/1993 Coll.), the president negotiates and ratifies international treaties; he may delegate the negotiation of international agreements to the Government or, with its approval, to its individual members. The consent of Parliament is required for the approval of international agreements, political agreements, and economic agreements of a general nature, and of agreements whose implementation requires the passing of a law (Articles 39 (4) and 49 (2)). Laws and international treaties approved by Parliament become effective upon their promulgation (Article 52).

Once ratified and promulgated, international agreements on human rights and fundamental freedoms are immediately binding and are superior to law (Article 10). The Constitutional Court can nullify laws and regulations or their individual provisions if they are in contradiction with a constitutional law or an international agreement on human rights and fundamental freedoms (Article 87).

By virtue of Constitutional Czech National Council Act No. 4/1993 Coll. on measures connected with extinction of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the Czech Republic assumed the obligations arising from international law in respect of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic on the day of its dissolution. It succeded to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols on 5 February 1993 and recognized the competence of the International Fact-Finding Commission under Article 90 of Protocol Additional I on 2 May 1995.