PRIVATE LAW EFFECTS OF THE NON-RECOGNITION OF STATES' EXISTENCE AND TERRITORIAL CHANGES

The study presents an outline of the effects in private law (including private international law) of the non-recognition of a state or a change of territory. Specifically, it addresses the question of what measures can another state take, in the field of private law, in order to give effect to its policy of not recognizing a state or a territorial annexation, and, in parallel, what are the means available to private parties with links to the unrecognized state or territory. The study is structured in two parts, namely 1) the effects in private law of the non-recognition of a state; and 2) the effect in private law of the non-recognition of an annexation of territory. I will make specific references in particular to the situation in Transnistria and Crimea, as examples of the two issues being addressed. The study intends to be a guide of past and present state practice at the legislative and judicial level, as well as presenting the connections between instruments of public international law, such as Sanctions Resolutions of the UN Security Council, and normative instruments of private law, such as rules of civil procedure, which must adapt to the policy of non-recognition adopted by (or imposed on) states. The study also presents specific examples of situations or administrative practices which create practical problems, and result from the existence of a non-recognized entity or change of territory: issues like air traffic coordination, postal traffic, the change in the official currency of a territory, questions of citizenship etc., the aim being to present the reader with a full picture of the issues and intricacies resulting from irregularities existing at the level of the international community of states