Done at Vienna on 23 August 1978
(j) "reservation" means a unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty or when making a notification of succession to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State;
(k) "contracting State" means a State which has consented to be bound by the treaty, whether or not the treaty has entered into force;
(l) "party" means a State which has consented to be bound by the treaty and for which the treaty is in force;
(m) "other State party" means in relation to a successor State any party, other than the predecessor State, to a treaty in force at the date of a succession of States in respect of the territory to which that succession of States relates;
(n) "international organization" means an intergovernmental organization.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 regarding the use of terms in the present Convention are without prejudice to the use of those terms or to the meanings which may be given to them in the internal law of any State.
Article 3
Cases not within the scope of the present Convention
The fact that the present Convention does not apply to the effects of a succession of States in respect of international agreements concluded between States and other subjects of international law or in respect of international agreements not in written form shall not affect:
(a) the application to such cases of any of the rules set forth in the present Convention to which they are subject under international law independently of the Convention;
(b) the application as between States of the present Convention to the effects of a succession of States in respect of international agreements to which other subjects of international law are also parties.
Article 4
Treaties constituting international organizations and treaties
adopted within an international organization
The present Convention applies to the effects of a succession of States in respect of:
(a) any treaty which is the constituent instrument of an international organization without prejudice to the rules concerning acquisition of membership and without prejudice to any other relevant rules of the organization;
