Parliamentary treaty examination process

The key features of the Parliamentary Treaty Examination Process are set out on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website. In summary:

• The Cabinet Manual and Standing Orders require the government to present all multilateral treaties and major bilateral treaties of particular significance to the House before binding treaty action is taken (see paragraph 7.113 of the Cabinet Manual and the section of the Standing Orders entitled "International Treaties" in the chapter on non-legislative procedures);
• Guidelines on what is a bilateral treaty of particular significance are available on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website. These guidelines are intended to assist the Minister to exercise his or her discretion. They do not replace this discretion;
• Once a treaty has been presented (with an accompanying National Interest Analysis), it is the subject of select committee consideration;
• The government refrains from taking any binding treaty action in relation to a treaty that has been presented to the House until the relevant committee has reported, or 15 sitting days have elapsed from the date of presentation, whichever is sooner;
• If the select committee report contains recommendations to the government, a government response to the recommendations must be presented to the House within 90 days of the report (see paragraphs 7.108 to 7.111 of the Cabinet Manual, and the section entitled "Reports" in the chapter on select committees in the Standing Orders);
• In very rare situations, the government may take urgent treaty action in the national interest before the treaty is presented to the House. Where this occurs, the treaty must be presented to the House as soon as possible after the binding action has been taken, together with a National Interest Analysis and an explanation from the government as to why it was considered necessary to take urgent action.