Treaties and laws of the Esquarian Community

The Esquarian Community is based on a series of treaties and laws that establishes its legal personality, creates its Institutions, and governs its Member States. The EC and its members are bound by these treaties and laws, which take precedence over national law and have constitutional status in many Member States.

Fundamental treaties

Two treaties have fundamental status within the EC:

• The Treaty of the Esquarian Community, ratified and came into force 1990
• The Esquarian Charter of Human Rights, ratified and came into force 2016

All Member States are automatically bound by these two treaties from the time of their accession to the EC.

Optional protocols

The Esquarian Charter of Human Rights has additional protocols which Member States may, but are not required to, ratify. Currently, these are:

• The Optional Protocol on the Regulation and Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty, ratified and came into force 2016
• The Optional Protocol on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified and came into force 2016

Esquarian laws

Esquarian laws are international acts of legislation which are binding on all Member States. They must be proposed in the Council of Esquarium, passed there, and then approved by the Esquarian Parliament before coming into force.

Esquarian laws include:

Cit.	Act	In force
EC/2016/01	Climate Change Act 2016	2016-12-25
EC/2017/01	Common Market and Greenwich Area Act 2017	2017-01-11
EC/2017/02	Terrorist Organizations and Individuals List Act 2017	2017-06-22
EC/2017/03	Comprehensive Common Market Act 2017	2017-08-26
EC/2017/04	Labour and Residency Act 2017	2017-10-26
EC/2018/01	Visa and Consular Affairs Act 2018	2018-03-31
EC/2018/02	Amendment to the Comprehensive Common Market Act 2017	2018-04-21

External treaties

Because the EC has a single legal personality, it is competent to make treaties with other sovereign subjects of international law which are not Member States. These include:

Cit.	Treaty	Signed	In force
EC/T/2017/01	Namor-Esquarian Community Association Agreement	2017-01-03	2017-01-20
EC/T/2017/02	High Seas Treaty	2017-12-07	2017-12-07
EC/T/2017/03	Whaling Treaty	2017-12-07	2017-12-07

Resolutions and directives

Institutions of the EC have the power to set their own rules of procedure and issue their own resolutions, and the President has the power to issue directives as permitted by law. Resolutions and directives are considered secondary legislation that derive their legal authority from the treaties and laws of the EC. They are important for the Community's internal governance and operations, and offer a more flexible and immediate tool than the ordinary legislative and treaty-making process. They include:

Cit.	Institution	Resolution/directive	Issued	Notes
EC/P/R/2016/01	Parliament	Resolution on the Nantai Question	2016‑11‑13	Prohibits the Esquarian Parliament from seating any representative of Nantai until the Nantai Question is resolved
EC/JR/2017/01	Parliament and Council	Joint Resolution on Recent Atrocities in Borea	2017‑03‑03	Directs Member States to issue sanctions against the Xiao regime and suspends Xiaodong from the Esquarian Common Market.
EC/JR/2017/02	Parliament and Council	Joint Resolution to Ratify Treaties Concerning the Law of the Sea	2017‑12‑07	Ratifies the Whaling Treaty and High Seas Treaty on behalf of the EC.
EC/PD/2018/01	Secretariat	Presidential directive EC/PD/2018/01	2018‑05‑06	Imposes retaliatory sanctions against Nunalik via the Comprehensive Common Market Act 2017.