Resolution of advice and consent, Treaty Doc. 105-51

As approved by a division vote of the Senate: Resolved, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, adopted and opened for signature at the conclusion of the seventeenth session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law on May 29, 1993 (Treaty Doc. 105-51) (hereinafter, "The Convention"), subject to the declarations of subsection (a) and subsection (b). (a) DECLARATIONS.-The Senate's advice and consent is subject to the following declarations, which shall be included in the instrument of ratification: (1) NON-SELF EXECUTING CONVENTION.-The United States declares that the provisions of Articles 1 through 39 of the Convention are not self-executing. (2) PERFORMANCE OF REQUIRED FUNCTIONS.-The United States declares, pursuant to Article 22(2), that in the United States the Central Authority functions under Articles 15-21 may also be performed by bodies or persons meeting the requirements of Articles 22(2)(a) and (b). Such bodies or persons will be subject to federal law and regulations implementing the Convention as well as state licensing and other laws and regulations applicable to providers of adoption services. The performance of Central Authority functions by such approved adoption service providers would be subject to the supervision of the competent federal and state authorities in the United States. (b) DECLARATIONS.-The Senate's advice and consent is subject to the following declarations, which shall be binding on the President: (1) DEPOSIT OF INSTRUMENT.-The President shall not deposit the instrument of ratification for the Convention until such time as the federal law implementing the Convention is enacted and the United States is able to carry out all the obligations of the Convention, as required by its implementing legislation. (2) TREATY INTERPRETATION.-The Senate affirms the applicability to all treaties of the constitutionally based principles of treaty interpretation set forth in Condition (1) of the resolution of ratification of the INF Treaty, approved by the Senate on May 27, 1988, and Condition (8) of the resolution of ratification of the Document Agreed Among the States Parties to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, approved by the Senate on May 14, 1997. (3) SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION.-Nothing in the Treaty requires or authorizes legislation or other action by the United States of America that is prohibited by the Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the United States. (4) REJECTION OF NO RESERVATIONS PROVISION.-It is the Sense of the Senate that the "no reservations" provision contained in Article 40 of the Convention has the effect of inhibiting the Senate from exercising its constitutional duty to give advice and consent to a treaty, and the Senate's approval of this Convention should not be construed as a precedent for acquiescence to future treaties containing such a provision.