Warszawa. 2014.01.11. Aspekty międzynarodowoprawne katastrofy smoleńskiej

Państwo i Prawo 2014, nr 7, s. 122-124.

Treaty Interpretation by the Polish Administrative Courts : A Case Study of the Interpretation of the 1972 Prague Convention

Polish Yearbook of International Law 2014, t. 34, s. 285-301.

This article analyses the practice of the Polish administrative courts with respect to application of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, based on a case study of the judgment of the Voivodship Administrative Court in Warsaw of 6 May 2014 (case no. II SA/Wa 117/14), which concerned the recognition of distance learning degrees awarded by Ukrainian universi­ties pursuant to the 1972 Prague Convention. It is argued herein that the reasoning of the court suffers from four major drawbacks: 1) it is at variance with the text, object and purpose of the Prague Convention; 2) it does not take into account the practice in the application of that treaty; 3) it misinterprets the silence of the preparatory work to the Prague Convention on certain issues; and 4) it is inconsistent with international judicial decisions as regards the interpretation of the “special meaning” of one of the terms used in the Convention.