The general form for citing treaties is as follows:

Eg United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1582 UNTS 95 (opened for signature 20 December 1988, entered into force 11 November 1990), art 5.

Eg Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital, Israel–Italy 1332 UNTS 126 (signed 22 April 1968, entered into force 8 August 1973), art 2.

(a) Treaty name

Give the treaty name as it appears on the first page of the treaty, except that full stops should not be used in abbreviations (see rule 1.1.2). Do not use italics.

(b) Parties’ names

For multilateral treaties, do not give the state parties’ names.

For bilateral treaties, list the state parties after the treaty name. Separate the treaty name and the parties’ names with a comma. Use an en dash (–) between each party’s name. (The keyboard shortcut for an en dash on Windows computers is “Ctrl + -” (where “-” is the minus symbol) and on Apple computers “Option + -” (where “-” is the hyphen symbol).) Do not give the parties’ names where they are part of the treaty name.

Eg Rehabilitation and Development Co-Operation Agreement, Australia–Nauru 1897 UNTS 265 (5 May 1994).

Eg Memorandum of Understanding on Labour Cooperation between New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China [2008] NZTS 17 (signed 4 April 1998, entered into force 12 September 2008).

Use common names for countries in accordance with rule 1.1.7(d).

(c) Treaty series citation

If a treaty has been published in a treaty series, give the treaty series citation after the parties’ names. Do not give parallel citations.

If the treaty is not in force it may not be printed in a treaty series.

The order of preference for treaty series is:

1. the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) or the League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS);

2. the New Zealand Treaty Series (NZTS);

3. the treaty series of the other state party, for example the Australian Treaty Series (ATS), the United States Treaties and other International Agreements (UST), or the United States Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS); and

4. other sources of international materials, such as the International Legal Materials.

Note that over 250,000 treaties are available in the United Nations Treaty Collection, which may be found at <https://treaties.un.org>.

The format for UNTS and LNTS citation is: [volume number] [treaty series identifier] [page number].

Eg Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies 610 UNTS 206 (opened for signature 27 January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967), art 6.

Eg Agreement for the Exchange of Parcels by Post, and Detailed Regulations annexed thereto, British Guiana–Curaçao 204 LNTS 13 (signed 31 March 1942 and 6 July 1942, entered into force 1 March 1942).

NZTS and ATS citations take the following form: [[year of treaty]] [treaty series identifier] [treaty number].

Eg Agreement on a Working Holiday Scheme between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of the Republic of Latvia [2009] NZTS 3 (signed 10 September 2008, entered into force 4 March 2009).

Eg Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Samoa relating to Air Services [2001] ATS 18 (signed 11 August 2000, entered into force 29 October 2001).

(d) Date

In round brackets after the treaty series citation, give the date on which the treaty opened for signature or was signed and, followed by a comma, the date on which the treaty entered into force.

Date on which treaty opened for signature or was signed

If parties can accede to the treaty (which will be the case for most multilateral treaties), cite the full date on which the treaty was opened for signature. Otherwise, give the date on which the treaty was signed or adopted by the parties.

Eg Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction 1974 UNTS 45 (opened for signature 13 January 1993, entered into force 29 April 1997), art 5.

Eg Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital, Canada–Romania 1467 UNTS 241 (signed 20 November 1978, entered into force 29 December 1980).

Date on which the treaty entered into force

If available, give the date on which the treaty entered into force.

Eg Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 2187 UNTS 3 (opened for signature 17 July 1998, entered into force 1 July 2002).

Treaties not yet in force

If a treaty is not yet in force, put “not yet in force” in place of the date of entry into force. If the treaty is not in force, it may not be printed in a treaty series.

Eg Multilateral Agreement for the Establishment of an International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (opened for signature 1 November 2010, not yet in force).

Where the date of signature and date of entry into force are the same

Where a treaty enters into force on the date of signature, give the date of signature in round brackets. It is unnecessary to also specify that this is the date on which the treaty entered into force.

Eg Agreement between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of the Republic of India relating to Air Services 2014 UNTS 319 (26 August 1997).

(e) Pinpoint reference

Pinpoint to the article number. The same rules as are applicable to statutes apply: see rule 4.1.1(d).

Eg International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 999 UNTS 171 (opened for signature 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976), art 6(1).