ABSTRACT
The International Law Commission Articles have no binding force, but some of their provisions reflect pre-existing customary law. The law of State responsibility is concerned with the determination of whether there is a wrongful act for which the wrongdoing State is to be held responsible, what the legal consequences are, and how such international responsibility may be implemented. Civil liability can be formulated in treaties as a primary rule creating substantive rights and obligations for States. The key issue is not whether the relevant act is lawful or wrongful, but who is responsible for it under, or in the absence of, the treaty regime that discretely regulates particular types of activity. A ‘self-contained’ nature may be expressive precisely of the lex specialis nature of arrangements undertaken with regard to secondary norms governing responsibility relations as such.
