Text adopted by the International Law Commission of the United Nations at its fifty-third session, in 2001, and submitted to the General Assembly as a part of the Commission's report covering the work of that session. The report also contains commentaries on the draft articles. The text can be found at http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft%20articles/962001.pdf. The General Assembly ‘took note’ of the Draft Articles and ‘commen[ded] them to the attention of Governments without prejudice to the question of their future adoption or other appropriate action’ (GA Res. 56/83, 12 December 2001). A few exceptions left aside not relevant in the present context, the Draft Articles are generally considered to be customary international law.

Article l

Responsibility of a State for its internationally wrongful acts

Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international responsibility of that State.

Article 2

Elements of an internationally wrongful act of a State

There is an internationally wrongful act of a State when conduct consisting of an action or omission:

Article 3

Characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful

The characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful is governed by international law. Such characterization is not affected by the characterization of the same act as lawful by internal law.

Article 4

Conduct of organs of a State

Article 5

Conduct of persons or entities exercising elements of governmental authority

The conduct of a person or entity which is not an organ of the State under article 4 but which is empowered by the law of that State to exercise elements of the governmental authority shall be considered an act of the State under international law, provided the person or entity is acting in that capacity in the particular instance.