The Interpretation of Uniform Law and Private International Law Conventions: What Role for the General Interpretation Rules under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties?

The present paper discusses the extent to which the general rules on treaty interpretation as codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties may apply as concerns the interpretation of private international law and uniform law conventions. Taking into consideration also the practice to include into those conventions clauses poiting to the need to take account of their international nature and of the need to pursue uniformity in their interpretation, the author argues that it is perfectly reasonable for the said general rules on treaty interpretation to be referred to also in the interpretation of the conventions concerned, either in the absence of specific interpretation clauses in the texts of those conventions, or for the purposes of integrating those clauses. Indeed, the broad terms in which the rules on treaty interpretation embodied in the Vienna Convention are conceived, reflecting an extensive practice developed across various domains of international law, have proved likely to adapt also to the peculiarities of the conventions concerned.