Osservazioni critiche sui lavori della commissione del diritto internazionale in tema di atti unilaterali degli Stati

This article provides a critical examination of the International Law Commission (ILC)’s work on Unilateral Acts of States. It took ten years for the ILC to study the topic: it eventually adopted, in 2006, ten Guiding principles applicable to unilateral declarations of States capable of creating legal obligations. Although the outcome has been widely regarded as failing to achieve the aim of clarifying the regime governing this kind of acts and the legal consequences arising from them, the ILC authoritatively confirmed the existence in international law of unilateral acts creating obligations for States. The importance of these acts is expected to increase in the future as a result of current technological developments, including the rapid advances affecting the means for expressing and communicating the will of States. Therefore, the quest for legal certainty in this field appears all the more urgent.