Recent developments regarding the direct and indirect application of treaties by Dutch courts. Fresh approaches to self-executing, non-self-executing and non-binding international law

Abstract

In 2014, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands switched from a binary to a contextual approach to the question whether a treaty provision has direct effect. In this contribution, the new approach is discussed in a historical perspective and linked with some other developments in Dutch case law that further enhance the possibilities for the national courts to enforce treaties: the interpretation of treaty provisions by means of non-binding but authoritative decisions of international supervisory bodies and the treaty-consistent interpretation and application of domestic law.