Treaties are published in the Official Gazette once they have passed the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) and ratified by the State President. Use the following databases to find treaties that China is a party to.
If a treaty is included in a treaty series, the treaty series should be cited rather than the UN document number. Treaties are often included in several treaty series. According to Chapter 8.4 (pp 137-139) of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, treaties should be cited in the following preferential order:
1. Consolidated Treaty Series (ConTS) 1648-1919; League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS) 1920-1944; or United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) 1946+
2. An official treaty series of a state party (for Australia, this is the Australian Treaty Series (ATS) or Australian Treaties Not Yet in Force (ATNIF))
3. Another international or regional treaty series (such as the European Treaty Series (ETS))
4. International Legal Materials (ILM) (University of Melb staff & students only). International Legal Materials includes selected treaty texts and useful introductory information about treaties and is an acceptable source to cite.
5. If the treaty is not included in any of the above, use the official document number (such as a UN document number) to identify it, using the accepted style as described in Chapter 8 of AGLC4.
The Chinese Constitution is silent on the status and effects of international treaties within the domestic legal system. It provides only for legislative approval of international treaties by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) and for the ratification of international treaties by the State President. Consequently, how international treaties are implemented in the PRC is determined in the course of constitutional practice and by ordinary legislation. The text of international treaties is published in the Official Gazette of the NPCSC together with the relevant approval decision of the Standing Committee according to Article 67 (14). The publication integrates the international treaty into the domestic legal system as it publicises the treaty text in the same way as laws are promulgated. This implies that international treaties approved by the NPCSC have the same rank in domestic law as statutes adopted by the National People’s Congress or its Standing Committee.
However, judicial practice of the application of treaties shows that the publication of the treaty text is not a sufficient precondition for the direct application of treaty provisions. In general, courts apply provisions of international treaties only on the basis of enabling legislation or judicial interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and not on the basis of a domestic act that specifically commands the application of the international treaty in question. Hence, it can be concluded that the publication of an international treaty in the Official Gazette gives the treaty legal effect within the domestic legal system. However, the legal effect is rather limited, as it commits the legislator only to amending current legislation or adopting a new law that implements the relevant treaty obligations. The practice in relation to treaties published in the Official Gazette excludes the interpretation that the publication of the treaty text as such makes the treaty legally relevant for administrative organs or the courts. Practice also implies that legislative approval and publication of an international treaty do not trigger the transformation of treaty provisions into domestic law. The publication of the treaty text constitutes a first and necessary precondition for the domestic application of a treaty provision. When an international treaty that is binding on the PRC is omitted from publication in the Official Gazette, the treaty neither becomes part of the domestic legal system nor is directly applicable.