Objectives

Abstract

Article 1, which provides for the objectives of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CCD) is an integral part of the first part of the Convention entitled “Objectives and Guiding Principles”. This heading is complemented by Article 2, which contains the Convention’s “Guiding Principles”. As both articles form each other’s immediate context, they must be read together, in order to fully understand how the subsequent operational provisions ought to be read and understood. This follows from both, the explicit command of the High Contracting Parties (“guiding principles”), and the general rules of treaty interpretation, as enshrined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), which determines that a treaty “shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose” (Art. 31 para. 1 VCLT). It should be noted that “the terms of the treaty” clearly also encompass the Preamble, which in the case of the Convention is particularly comprehensive and to some extent more precise than its Article 1.