Il destino della clausola rebus sic stantibus quale causa d’inefficacia dei trattati tra situazioni emergenziali e intepretazioni evolutive

The spread of the “SARS-COV-2” pandemic and the related serious economic consequences for many States might open the way for a frequent plea to the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus. The doctrine of rebus sic stantibus, ruled by Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) - which involves the implication of a term that the obligations of a treaty would end, or be suspended, if there has been a fundamental change of circumstances - still represents a controversial legal issue in public International law. This provision, an exceptional one, is generally interpreted by Publicists in a very restrictive way. Nevertheless, already in the 1970s, the International Court of Justice in the Iceland Fisheries Cases had laid the bases for a broad interpretation of Article 62, implying an obligation to negotiate on the State which invokes a change of circumstances, although not expressly stated by the VCLT. This interpretation, also confirmed by several commercial arbitral awards, seems to lead to a new scope of the rebus sic stantibus doctrine, in the law of treaties.