CYIL 2014

483

RESPONSIBILITY OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS TOWARDS OTHER …

Bimal N. Patel

Responsibility of International Organisations towards other International

Organisations: Law and Practice of the United Nations, the World Bank, the

European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency

[Odpovědnost mezinárodních organizací ve vztahu k jiným mezinárodním organi-

zacím: Právo a praxe Spojených národů, Světové banky, Evropské unie a Meziná-

rodní agentury pro atomovou energii]

Lucknow: Eastern Book Company, 2013, 408 pp.

The newly published book by Indian Professor Bimal N. Patel deals with the

responsibility of international organizations. This is a topic which has attracted the

intention of international lawyers during the past years.

Unlike other publications

that focus on general issues of the responsibility of international organizations,

documented mainly on cases of disputes between international organizations and States,

or that provide reflection and comments on the 2011 Articles on the responsibility of

international organizations, this book approaches the topic from a new, largely not yet

researched perspective of the relations

inter se

among international organizations. This

is an area the importance of which is growing as a result of the increasing number

of IOs, but it has not been explored much even in the work of the International

Law Commission. His long study is backed by extensive reference to the practice of

international organizations as a source of law.

The content of the book reflects this approach. It is divided into seven substantive

chapters and conclusions. The first chapter, called “Overview: Responsibility of

International Organisations Towards Other International Organisations”, has rather

the function of an introduction. The author outlines the main questions, methods,

a survey of literature and the scope of the research study. In particular, he explains the

selection of four IOs, namely the IAEA, the United Nations, the International Bank

for Reconstruction and Development and the European Union. Chapter 2 provides

a description of the constitutive instruments, membership and main objectives of the

international organizations under examination, including an analysis of their legal

personality. Next, Chapter 3 analyses the objects and purposes of the UN, the IAEA,

the IBRD and the EU (EC), as well as their legal relations with other international

organizations. Chapter 4 focuses on rules which govern the relations between

international organizations. They are mainly in the form of treaties but include also

customary international law and general principles of law. Chapter 5 examines more

specifically various sources of inter-organizational obligations and possible remedies

in case of breach or non-fulfilment of the obligations. It involves the relationship and

See e.g. M. Ragazzi (ed.),

Responsibility of International Organizations. Essays in Memory of Sir Ian

Brownlie

. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhof Publishers, 2013.