Treaties Pathfinder

• Where can I find the text of a treaty?
• Is this treaty still in force?

Finding your treaty information may depend on knowing a number of things:

• Time period involved.
  
• Status of the treaty.
  
• Whether it is bilateral (two parties) or multilateral (many parties).
  
• The parties involved (for example, is the U.S. is involved?).
  
• Whether the treaty has been amended.

If you are looking for a treaty in which the U.S. is a party, the text should be available in the Treaties and Other International Acts Series, or TIAS. TIAS volumes appear individually and then are eventually bound together into the United States Treaties and Other International Acts series, or U.S.T. (Note that current treaties may not appear in these sources as it takes time for the publications to be added; TIAS often lags behind 5 years or so, while UST is typically 10 years late.)

In the United States, TIAS and UTS should be available at a federal depository library near you:

Find Your Local Federal Depository Library
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/findlibs/index.html

TIAS has a "Superintendent of Documents number" of S9.10, while the UTS number is S9.12. Your local librarian can help you find these volumes in your library.

Treaties involving the United States must be ratified in the U.S. Senate, and those dated 1995 or later may be available online as "Senate Documents":

GPO Access: Senate, House and Treaty Documents (1995 or later)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong006.html

The United Nations Web site also has many treaties online:

United Nations Treaty Series
http://www.un.org/Depts/Treaty/collection/series/search.htm

You can also find some additional treaties online, including historic treaties, at these sites:

Yale University: Avalon Project
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm

Internet Law Library: Treaties and International Law
http://www.nsulaw.nova.edu/library/ushouse/89.htm

The former ACDA web site also provides a downloadable copy of the 1999 Treaties in Force (in Adobe Acrobat PDF version):

Treaties in Force - January 1, 1999
http://www.state.gov/www/global/legal_affairs/tifindex.html

The IRS also provides information on tax treaties. See the following publications:

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/ind_info/treaties.html
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/pubs/p519toc.htm
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/pubs/p901toc.htm

If your treaty is not listed, or is not available in any of the Internet sources above, you will need to visit a library to continue your research.

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