Eurasian Economic Union and Issues of International Organizations Succession

Abstract

The former Soviet Union Republics striving to integrate have created several integrationorganizations during the past 30 years — the Economic Union, the Free Trade Zone, theCustom Union, the Eurasian Economic Community and the Eurasian Economic Union.The Councils of the Heads of State and the Councils of the Heads of Government havealways been among the organs of the organizations with as a rule a commission providedspecially to act not on behalf of the member states, but on behalf of the organization itselfand empowered to take decisions of compulsory character for the member states. Theanalysis shows that the succession in the integration organizations is similar to those inother international organizations. Though there is no single normative act providing forthe succession of international organizations several regularities are of relevance. Thesuccession in international organizations is performed not by the organizations themselves,but by the member states; the basis for the succession is not territory as during thestate succession, but the transfer of functions from the predecessor organization to thesuccessor. Integration organizations created in the post-Soviet territory possess differentidentity, they do not continue one another, they are separate subjects of internationallaw and they implement their own succession through member states. The Commissionof the Customs Union is of special interest. Its personality ceased to exist in 2014 due tothe creation of the Eurasian economic commission of the EAEU. The succession of thepredecessor to the successor commissions is implemented concerning the three parts:the Commission itself, its functions and its decisions. The Commission is abolished, itsfunctions are inherited by the Eurasian Economic Commission and the decisions havebeen implemented in the national legislation of the member states, and in the norms andrules of the acts adopted by the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union. Thedecisions of the Commission continue to act as far as they do not contradict the EAEUTreaty. The general legal basis of the EAEU is not the same as existed within the CustomsUnion and if contradictions arise, it must be changed since the basic norms of the newlegal order have been altered.