Time required for ratification of treaties

• Author: Winston, Andrew M.
• Pages: 36-37

Study

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V. Time required for ratification of treaties

Most United States treaties receive the favorable advice and consent of the Senate “within a

reasonable period of time”314 and are ratified in due course thereafter.

To illustrate the time required for Senate approval and presidential ratification, the table below

(see next page) lists treaties that received the advice and consent of the Senate during the

114th Congress (which began January 6, 2015 and adjourned January 3, 2017) and were

published in the Department of State’s Texts of International Agreements to which the United

States is a Party, along with key dates on the path to ratification.315

Of these treaties, the Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of

Montenegro had the quickest path to ratification: it was signed by the United States on May

19, 2016, approved by the Senate on March 28, 2017, and ratified by the President on April 11,

2017.

The Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture took the longest time to be

ratified: it was signed by the United States on November 1, 2002, approved by the Senate on

September 28, 2016, and ratified by the President on December 2, 2016.

314 SFRC TREATY STUDY, supra note 25, at 117.

315 The information in this table was obtained from treaty documents available on Congress.gov and from the

United States Department of State website. The Department of State is obligated, under 1 U.S.C § 112a(d)

(2018), to make treaties and executive agreement that will be published in United States Treaties and Other

International Agreements available within 180 days after entry into force. See also Treaties and Other

International Acts Series (T IAS), U.S. DEP’T OF STATE, https://www.state.gov/tias/ (last visited July 3, 2020).