The newest convention of the Council of Europe requires states parties to criminalize all activities related to the trafficking in human organs. It is the first international agreement specifically aimed at addressing this form or criminal trade. Trafficking in human organs is mostly a transnational criminal enterprise: the article highlights how contracting states will have to face specific problems in prosecuting offences committed in foreign countries. The effectiveness of the convention depends on the parties’ determination in solving such problems and in avoiding taking advantage from some reservations that – though admitted by the convention – could undermine its possible value as a means of combating transnational crime.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will not be effective until all the 44 states listed in its Annex 2 ratify it. A special link has been established between the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the CTBT. The disarmament obligation set by Article VI of the NPT, which has not yet been complied with, remains highly controversial. The relevant subsequent practice of the states parties to the NPT shows that the ratification of the CTBT is to be considered the first of the practical steps towards compliance with Article VI. However, as the practical steps do not set any legally binding norms, there is no legal obligation to ratify the CTBT, not even for the 44 states listed in Annex 2 whose ratification is essential. The paper deals with the position of nuclear powers party to the NPT that have not yet ratified the CTBT (most prominently the US and China) and demonstrates that these states should at least provide detailed motivation for their conduct. Otherwise, other states parties to the NPT could consider them as not complying in good faith with Article VI of the NPT and invoke the inadimplenti non est ademplendum rule to justify breaches of their own obligations under the same treaty.