ABSTRACT
If a state violates a rule of customary international law or ignores an obligation of a treaty it has concluded, it commits a breach of international law and thereby a so-called ‘internationally wrongful act’.1 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 (e.g. an obligation on the part of the wrong doing state to restore the previous situation or to pay compensation), and how such international responsibility may be implemented (e.g. through countermeasures adopted by the victim state, such as reprisals or retortion).2
