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Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem (Protocol III), 8 December 2005

Commentary - Ratification

Article 9 - Ratification

Article 9

of Additional Protocol III reproduces verbatim Articles 93

and 21

of 1977 Additional Protocols I and II respectively. This provision requires that ratification, a procedural act that is complementary to signature and expresses consent to be bound by a treaty, must be accomplished "as soon as possible." The commentary on Article 93

states very simply that this formulation "…. is not very common. It has been taken from the corresponding article of the Conventions (57

/56

/137

/152

) and represents an exhortation without laying down a precise period." [63]
The expression “depositary” means one or more State(s), an international organization or the chief administrative officer of the organization, chosen by the signatories of an international treaty to keep custody of the text and to centralize transmission of the various instruments relating to the treaty concerned.[64]Additional Protocol III assigns this task to the Swiss Federal Council, as did the Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols.

Notes

63. Ibid., p. 1073 (§ 3709)

64. For more on the designation and role of the depositary, see especially Part VII (Articles 76-80) of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.