Monetary Stability as a Common Concern in International Law

Front matter

World Trade Institute Advanced Studies - 7

BRILL | NIJHOFF

Monetary Stability as a Common Concern in International Law

Contents

Acknowledgments xI

Abbreviations and Acronyms XIII

Table of Cases and Legislation xvi

Index

IX

Acknowledgments

This book is a revised version of the doctoral monograph that I defended at the World Trade Institute (wT1), University of Bern in May 2020. During the process of completing my DPhil thesis, which was mostly enjoyable but at times challenging and lengthy, I have acquired many debts. Above all, I owe special thanks to my two outstanding doctoral supervisors, Professor Thomas Cottier from the wTI, University of Bern and Professor Rosa Lastra from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, both of whom I truly admire. I am extremely grateful for their intellectual guidance, constant support and personal friendship. Professor Cottier, my main supervisor at the University of Bern, has not only given me great guidance along the journey towards completing my doctoral thesis but also expanded my knowledge on international public law, encouraged me to think beyond the status quo and embrace the project of Common Concern of Humankind in the special case of monetary affairs. Professor Lastra, my co-supervisor, has been a constant source of inspiration for my research on monetary and financial law, on which she is one of the leading scholars worldwide.

My thesis has greatly benefited from the work of the team under the project on Common Concern of Humankind at the wT! (the Project on Common Concern), led by Professor Cottier and comprised by my doctoral fellows: Zaker Ahmad, Alexander Beyleveld, Iryna Bogdanova and Judith Schali. This Project on Common Concern and my doctoral studies were funded by the generous grant provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation. My time as visiting scholar at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law and at the Centre for Banking and Finance Law, National University of Singapore Faculty of Law has also been the most enriching in the gradual development of my thesis. I would also like to thank Claus Zimmermann and Federico Lupo-Pasini for their valuable comments to some key aspects of this book during the workshops and seminars conducted in connection with the Project on Common Concern. I am very grateful to the staff at Brill, in particular Marie Sheldon and Kelley Baylis, for overseeing the publication process.

Last but not least, a very special thanks to my husband Alejandro for his constant love, support and encouragement to pursue and complete this thesis, and to our three daughters: Felicitas, Emilia and Celina (the last two were born during this process), who overwhelm me daily with their joy and enthusiasm. Iam also indebted to my parents and my mother-in-law.

XII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The final manuscript of this book was completed on 22 October 2021. All efforts were made to keep this book up to date as of that day. However, a few exceptions could not be considered.

Lucia Satragno Singapore, 22 October 2021

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ABF ABMI AJIL APPS ASEAN BCBS BIS BoC BoE BoJ BRICS BSAS CBVC CFMS CJEU CMI COFER CUP DLT DN

EC ECB EE EEA EJIL EMES EMEAP EMU EPG ESCBS ESF EUROSTAT FDI Fed FG FSAP FSB

Asian Bond Fund

Asian Bond Market Initiative

American Journal of International Law

Asset Purchase Programmes

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Bank For International Settlements Bank of Canada

Bank of England

Bank of Japan

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Bilateral Swap Agreements

Central Bank Issued Virtual or Digital Currencies Capital Flow Management Measures

Court of Justice of the European Union Chiang Mai Initiative

Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves Cambridge University Press

Distributed Ledgers Technology

Danmarks Nationalbank

European Communities

European Central Bank

Edward Elgar Publishing

Exchange Equalisation Account

European Journal of International Law Emerging Markets Economies

Executive Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks European Monetary Union

Eminent Persons Group Euroepan System of Central Banks

Exchange Stabilisation Fund

Statistical Office of the European Communities Foreing Direct Investment

Federal Reserve

Forward Guidance

Financial Sector Assesment Programme Financial Stability Board

XIV

UNCJIS

UNDP

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

Financial Stability Forum

Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Group of Twenty

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Global Financial Crisis

Global Financial Safety Net

Global Public Goods

International Bank For Reconstruction and Development International Court of Justice

International Economic Law

International Financial Architecture

International Finance Discussion Papers International Financial Standards

International Law Commission

International Monetary Fund

International Monetary System

International Organisation of Securities Commissions International Trade Organization

Journal of International Economic Law

Lender of Last Resort

Expanded Lending Operations

National Bureau of Economic Research

Negative Interest Rate Policy

Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development Outright Monetary Transactions

Oxford University Press

Permanent Court of International Justice Quantitative Easing

Responsibility to Protect

Regional Financing Agreements

Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes Special Drawing Rights

State Immunity Act

Swiss National Bank

Treaty on The Functioning of The European Union United Kingdom

United Nations

United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property

United Nations Development Programme

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

UNFCCC UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UMPTs Unconventional Monetary Policy Tools

US United States of America USD US Dollar vcs Virtual Currencies

WTO World Trade Organisation

XV

Table of Cases and Legislation

Cases

Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited, 1cj Reports 1970, 3, 32.

Case of Certain Norwegian Loans (France v Norway) [1957] 1cJ Rep 9.

Case C-370/12 Thomas Pringle v Government of Ireland E£U:C:2012:756.

Case C-62/14 Peter Gauweiler and Others v Deutscher Bundestag EU:C:2015:400.

Fisheries Jurisdiction (United Kingdom v Iceland) Merits, Judgement, 1CJ Reports 1974 p 3.

NML Capital, Ltd. v Banco Central de la Republica Argentina 652 F.3d 172, 175 (2nd Cir. 2011).

Serbian and Brazilian Loan Cases, Judgment of 12 July 1929, PCIJ, Series A nos. 20-1, 44 and 122.

S. S. Lotus (France v Turkey), Judgement of 7 September 1927, PCIJ, Series A, No 10.

Legislation

International Legislation, International Organisations and other International Fora and Related Instruments

Adoption of the Paris Agreement (2015) FCCC/CP/2015/L.g/Rev., 21.

Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) 31 ILM 818, 822.

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) 2368 UNTS 3, 35.

International Monetary Fund, ‘Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund’.

International Monetary Fund Executive Board, ‘Unenforceability of Exchange Contracts: Fund’s Interpretation of Article v111, Section 2(b)’ (Decision No 446-4, 10 June 1949).

International Monetary Fund Executive Board, ‘Payments Restrictions for Security Reasons: Fund Jurisdiction’ (Decision No 144-(52/51),14 August 1952).

International Monetary Fund Executive Board, ‘Article vi11 and Article xiv’ (Decision No 1034-(60/27), 1 June 1960).

International Monetary Fund, ‘IMF Executive Board Adopts New Decision on Bilateral Surveillance over Members’ Policies’ (Public Information Notice, PIN 07/69, 15 June 2007).

TABLE OF CASES AND LEGISLATION XVII

International Monetary Fund Executive Board, ‘Decision on Bilateral and Multilateral Surveillance’ (Decision No 15203-(12/72), 18 July 2012).

International Monetary Fund, ‘By-Laws Rules and Regulations’ (November 2019) rule K-1.

International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001) 2400 UNTS 303, 379.

Statute of the International Court of Justice, Article 38.

United Nations Charter (full text).

United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their

Property.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) 31 ILM

849, 851.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, ‘Declaration of Ethical Principles in relation to Climate Change’ (13 November 2017).

EU Legislation Protocol (No 4) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the ECB [2010] oJ C326/230 Art 2.

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [2008] oJ Cu5/47 Art 127.

National Legislation Bank of England Act 1998, Section u.

Bank of England Act 1998, Section 15.

Constitución Argentina Art 75.

Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 Art 99, para 1. Federal Reserve Act, Section 2 A (12 U.S.C. 226).

Federal Reserve Act, Section 10 (12 U.S.C. 226).

Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, Pub L 94-583, go Stat 2891. State Immunity Act 1978.

US Constitution Art 1, §8.

Introduction

The international monetary system to which we aspire is one that preserves the gains of the past sixty-five years, without succumbing to its own instability. It is a system that maintains freedom of trade and current payments and that allows sharing more widely the benefits of financial globalization, appropriately regulated. It is a system where all countries recognize their stake in global stability and accept that near-term national objectives may, if needed, be constrained by the global interest. International cooperation is, in the long run, a necessary ingredient in the search for national prosperity. This should lead every country to look with a renewed sense of responsibility and discipline to the system as a whole. The G2o or a "G" of similar limited size, under the proposed renovated architecture, would be in a powerful position to promote the global common good, and to make it prevail, including, at times, against a narrow, short-term interpretation of national Zinterests. The opportunity for the emergence of a fully fledged international monetary order is here at stake.

‘Rapport Camdessus’, February 20u1!

In the last decade, the study of international monetary law has regained relevance. The ‘free market paradigm’ that promoted self-adjusting and efficient markets for the last 30 years was abandoned with the onset of the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 (GFC),” which gave rise to a more interventionist approach to the economy with increased regulation. The GFC not only revealed

1 Palais-Royal Initiative, ‘Reform of the International Monetary System: A Cooperative Approach for the Twenty First Century’ (2011) <http://global-currencies.org/smi/gb/telec har/news/Rapport_Camdessus-integral.pdf> accessed 21 October 2021. This report was written by a group of leading economists convened together under the direction of Michel Camdessus, Alexandre Lamfalussy and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa.

2 Lastra and Wood considered that the core of the global financial crisis was between 2007 and 2009. See Rosa M Lastra and Geoffrey Wood, ‘The Crisis of 2007-2009: Nature, Causes, and Reactions’ (2012) 13 JIEL 531.

© LUCÍA SATRAGNO, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004508736_002 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the cc BY-NC 4.0 license.

the structural weaknesses of the international monetary system (1Ms) but also stressed the need for reform with the intention to promote global stability.

Methodologically, this book takes a specific legal approach. It is based on a combination of public international law, regulatory law and the interdisciplinary interchange between law, history and economics. This volume studies in particular the role of law and institutions in the pursuit of monetary stability.? In doing so, it argues that monetary stability is both an indisputable public good at the domestic level and an essential global public good (GPG) for the international community.* Hence, this book recognises that there are overlapping jurisdictions dealing with monetary stability at the different levels of governance (national, regional and international) and that they intersect and influence each other.

This book also remarks that since the collapse of the rule-based system of ‘Bretton Woods’ in the 1970’s, there has been an imbalance among the different domains dealing with monetary stability. That is, policies on national and regional levels prevail over multilateral and international solutions in monetary affairs. The main causes of this imbalance are attributable to the current design of the international monetary order, a system mainly based on monetary sovereignty attributes of the states and soft international governance. The role of public international law in monetary affairs seems to have reached its limits since the entry into force of the second amendment to the articles of agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF or the Fund).® While

3 This volume acknowledges that there is no universally-accepted definition for monetary stability. At the domestic and regional levels of governance, monetary stability has two dimensions: internal and external. While ‘internal monetary stability’ refers to the stability of domestic prices and is generally measured by the consumer price index calculated by a public agency, ‘external monetary stability’ is understood as the stability of the value of a specific currency vis-a-vis other currencies. At the international level, global monetary stability refers to the stability of the whole rms. That is, the stability of the key elements of the system: exchange rate agreements, international payments system, international capital movements, and monetary reserves and access to liquidity. In other words, international monetary stability refers to the stability of the countries’ balance of payments position. For detailed analysis on the concept of monetary stability from a multilevel governance perspective, see chapter 2, section 2 of this book.

4 Fora detailed study on the theory of public goods and in particular the study of monetary stability as a local public good and GPG, see chapter 3, section 1 of this book.

5 The ‘Bretton Woods’ system is named after the Bretton Woods Conference that was held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States of America in July 1944. For a description of the ‘Bretton Woods Period’ (1944 — 1973), see chapter 1, section 3 of this book.

6 The Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (hereinafter, Articles of Agreement) were adopted as a result of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, Bretton Woods, held in New Hampshire, United States of America on 22 July 1944 and were entered into force on 27 December 1945. They were amended on six occasions.

the IMF is still the central international monetary institution, this book claims that a reconsideration of the role of the states in the pursuit of international monetary stability, through their monetary authorities, is required.

This state of affairs makes the case for the application of the novel doctrine of common concern of humankind (Common Concern).’ This book argues that the conduct of monetary affairs is not only limited but also assisted by the rules of public international law through specific treaty provisions and also by rules of customary international law. It is in this context that this book introduces the emerging doctrine and potential principle of Common Concern. This book argues that Common Concern provides an adequate methodological approach to address the under-provision of the GPG of international monetary stability and the debate on global cooperation and unilateral measures in monetary affairs.

Common Concern refers to ‘an important shared problem and shared responsibility, and for an issue which reaches beyond the bounds of a single community and state as a subject of international law’® Departing from that notion, the incipient doctrine promotes Common Concern as a new principle in international law that redefines the responsibilities of states concerning the promotion and protection of GPGs by adding an extra layer of responsibility beyond their jurisdictional domains. The nature of problems associated with Common Concerns calls for a collective action response and demands cooperation among states. Under this doctrine, international cooperation among states is the preferred approach to solve the problems associated with Common Concerns, and unilateral lawful action stands as the second best approach.

The emerging doctrine of common concern of humankind is well established in the fields of natural resources and environmental law and has recently attracted a debate about its applicability to other areas of international law. There are references to common concern of humankind in international treaty language in relation to climate change, biodiversity protection, plant genetic resources and cultural goods in a broad sense. Notwithstanding these treaty

See IMF, ‘Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund’ <www.imforg/external /pubs/ft/aa/> accessed 21 October 2021.

7 Hereafter, the term ‘Common Concern’ or ‘Common Concern of Humankind’ in capital letters will be used to describe the doctrine and emerging principle as proposed to be applied in this book and the term ‘common concern of humankind’ or ‘common concern’ in small letters will be used to describe the general principle as used in international instruments and most of literature. Cottier develops the emerging doctrine and principle in Thomas Cottier, ‘The Principle of Common Concern of Humankind’ in Thomas Cottier (ed), The Prospects of Common Concern of Humankind in International Law (CUP 2021).

8 ibid.

references and existing literature on the topic, the normative concept and implications of the emerging doctrine are not yet specified.

Acknowledging that common concern of humankind has so far mainly been a source of inspiration in the search for adequate normative solutions to overcome the under-provision of GPGs of magnitude, Professor Thomas Cottier together with a group of four doctoral students at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern embarked in October 2015 on a project funded by the Swiss National Research Foundations and with the support of the Swiss State Secretariat for the Economy.’ The main purpose of this project was to develop further and in detail the foundations and normative implications of the emerging doctrine and potential principle of Common Concern. In doing so, the project undertook several seminars and workshops and culminated in an edited volume published by Cambridge University Press in 2020, The Prospects of Common Concern of Humankind in International Law?

The opening chapter of the volume written by Professor Cottier! describes the historical foundations of common concern of humankind by providing a comprehensive recount of the existing scholarly work on the topic and detailing the expression in treaty language. It continues by expanding on the emerging doctrine of Common Concern and stating its potential to emerge as a principle of international law, by shaping rights and obligations in international cooperation, domestic commitments, possibilities and limits of extraterritorial effect, and its impact on the law of sanctions and countermeasures in seeking compliance with international obligations undertaken. In doing so, it proposes to apply a process of claims and responses to global problems that may amount to being Common Concerns. It concludes by claiming that the potential principle of Common Concern of Humankind will not only deploy effects globally, but also operate as a general principle of law within today’s realities and multilevel governance.

The above-mentioned chapter by Cottier sets the foundations and normative basis for a more refined and detailed doctrine of Common Concern to be tested in different regulatory areas. On that basis, the four doctoral students involved in the project developed subsequent chapters on the book in the areas of human rights, income inequality, transfer of technology of renewable energy and monetary stability. The latest of my authorship provides a departing point

9 For more information on the project on Common Concern of Humankind under the auspices of the World Trade Institute, University of Bern see the institute webpage on the topic: <www.wti.org/research/res/#open-83766-sustainability> accessed 21 October 2021. 10 Cottier (ed), The Prospects of Common Concern of Humankind in International Law (n 7). 11 Thomas Cottier, ‘The Principle of Common Concern of Humankind’ (n 7).

for this book on the question of whether international monetary stability can amount to a Common Concern.!? Hence, this book builds upon and expands on the doctrine of Common Concern in the field of international monetary law. From a methodological perspective it tackles the three main components of the doctrine: (i) international cooperation, (ii) domestic commitments and (iii) securing compliance, and uses them to analyse the issue of monetary stability as a Common Concern and also to give structure to the book as follows:

Chapter 1 provides the necessary background to the main theme of the book. It examines the rms, describing its key features since the collapse of the ‘Bretton Woods System’ in the 1970's: exchange rates, international payment system, international capital movements, and monetary reserves and access to liquidity. It reviews the term IMs and how it is complementary but different from the international financial system. The chapter also points out how the characteristics of today’s IMs were challenged and modified by the events of the GFC. The chapter ends by arguing that there is a clear trade-off between the pursuit of domestic goals and the stability of the overall system that demands a profound reform.

Chapter 2 examines the relationship between the stability of the ims and the attributes of the monetary sovereign powers of the states while also arguing that domestically- and regionally-oriented monetary policies have spillover effects beyond its jurisdictions. In doing so, the chapter studies the concept of monetary stability at the different levels of governance (domestic, regional and international). It also explores the modern notion of monetary sovereignty and its main attributes for the issuance and regulation of money in a given jurisdiction. The chapter continues by arguing that in a world of highly interconnected financial and monetary systems, locally- and regionally-oriented policies have effects beyond their intended borders. Hence, it considers the collection of international spillovers of monetary policy (both conventional and unconventional) as the main channel of influence of the ims and provides a description of the main unconventional monetary policies in place since the start of the Grc. The chapter concludes by considering that the promotion and protection of monetary stability from a multilevel governance perspective requires a collective action response. Thus, the chapter argues that the emerging doctrine of Common Concern can be a valid methodological approach to overcome this issue.

12 Lucía Satragno, ‘International Monetary Stability as a Common Concern of Humankind’ in Cottier (ed), ‘The Prospects of Common Concern of Humankind in International Law’ (n7).

Chapter 3 describes the key aspects of the theory of public goods (both local and global) and considers monetary stability as an indisputable public good at the domestic level and an essential GPG for the international community. It recognises monetary stability as an under-provided GPG that demands urgent solutions. Hence, the chapter introduces the emerging doctrine and potential principle of Common Concern of Humankind as a valuable method to deal with collective action problems. It provides a review of the scholarly work and evolution of the emerging doctrine to date and also describes the salient features of the refined doctrine proposed by Cottier in the above-mentioned book.8

Based on this more advanced doctrine, the chapter continues by offering a preliminary consideration of the application of the three-dimensional approach proposed by the doctrine to the case study of international monetary stability. It starts with the duty to cooperate in monetary affairs both from a top-down approach and a bottom-up approach. It continues with an examination of the domestic obligations concerning monetary stability with an emphasis on the special role of central banks and also discusses some cases of unilateral actions and issues of extraterritoriality in the pursuit of monetary stability. Lastly, it offers some remarks on securing compliance with obligations that may emerge from an accepted Common Concern of international monetary stability. The chapter concludes by highlighting the complexities that the Common Concern preliminary analysis exposes for the pursuit of monetary stability. It also offers some guidelines for the following three chapters that are devoted to the analysis of this three-dimensional approach in detail.

Chapter 4 studies the duty to cooperate internationally as the best solution to solve the problems associated with Common Concerns. It recognises that there is no general duty to cooperate, consult and negotiate under current international law. Hence, this duty would apply only to matters that are considered Common Concerns of Humankind after being scrutinised by a process of claims and responses. Concerning monetary affairs, the chapter acknowledges that international cooperation for the pursuit of monetary stability lacks an appropriate international regulatory framework and instead rests on soft governance arrangements and on the goodwill of the states to promote monetary policy coordination. The chapter also analyses the duty to cooperate in monetary affairs both from a top-down approach (international level of governance) and a bottom-up approach (central banking cooperation).

13 Cottier (ed), The Prospects of Common Concern of Humankind in International Law (n 7).

The study of the top-down approach in monetary affairs considers the IMs as being an integral part of the so-called global or international financial architecture (IFA). It describes the key governance and normative aspects of the IFA and the main challenges and deficiencies evidenced by the Grc. Under the key governance aspects of the IFA the chapter gives special mention to the salient role of the ImF as the central international monetary institution. It describes the Fund’s key functions and evolution over time. On the normative aspect of the IFA the chapter examines the system of international standard-setting (mostly soft-law). The study of the bottom-up approach of the duty to cooperate focuses on the cross-border cooperation among countries with a special focus on monetary policy coordination among monetary authorities. It briefly examines central banking cooperation throughout history and it provides a description of the main examples of effective central bank involvement in international coordination since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system and ends with an analysis of the responses provided by central banks during and after the Grc to date. The chapter continues by offering some examples of possible enhanced cooperation based on the premises of the new ‘obligation to act’ proposed by the potential principle of Common Concern. The chapter ends by considering that the enhanced duty to cooperate proposed by Common Concern will have a positive impact on the promotion of international monetary stability both from a top-down and bottom-up approach. A top-down approach would require a reinforcement of the role of the IMF as the central international monetary institution and a bottom-up approach would entail enhanced cross-border cooperation among states.

Chapter 5 focuses on the second element of the emerging doctrine of Common Concern: the obligations at the domestic level or obligations to do homework. This element comprehends two levels of commitment: the duty to promote and protect the Common Concern at the local level and the duty to implement international commitments assumed in international agreements and in customary law. For monetary stability considerations the first level of commitment encompasses the pursuit and maintenance of monetary stability as a domestic public good and a local Common Concern. The chapter studies this first level of commitment with special focus on the role of central banks as the preferred institutional arrangement in the promotion and protection of monetary stability. The chapter also examines the institutional framework of central banking. In doing so it studies the main functions and objectives of central banks and monetary authorities in relation to monetary stability. The chapter continues by analysing the special characteristics of the system of exchange rate controls and the management of a country’s foreign reserves and its impact on exchange rate stability. The chapter concludes by stating that while central banks have a unique position in the pursuit and maintenance of domestic monetary stability both in crisis and in regular times, the new obligation at the domestic level promoted by Common Concern will reinforce this unique position by expanding it not only to local concerns but also to global considerations in relation to monetary stability.

Chapter 6 studies the second level of commitment regarding the obligation to do homework of the emerging doctrine of Common Concern. This second level of commitment entails compliance with international commitments assumed in international agreements and in customary law. The doctrine is not intended to affect the existing obligations under international law but to confer them with the foundations of the emerging principle of Common Concern. That is, encouraging the timely and effective implementation of international commitments. In this regard, the emerging doctrine also aims to inspire autonomous domestic policy-making to address the issues underlying the Common Concerns. Accordingly, the chapter analyses this dimension of the obligation to do homework by considering salient examples of domestic unilateral actions with extraterritorial effects in the realm of monetary affairs. It provides a description of the key unilateral measures in monetary affairs: exchange restrictions and capital controls, with special mention to the case of exchange rate manipulation. The chapter also analyses the accumulation of reserve assets as a unilateral measure of precautionary nature and contains a note on the proliferation of regional financing agreements as an alternative to manage volatility caused by monetary policy spillovers.

The chapter also offers some remarks on the most controversial element of the emerging doctrine of Common Concern, the third element: securing compliance with the obligations that may emerge from an accepted Common Concern of international monetary stability. The emerging doctrine of Common Concern suggests that there is a fundamental difference between the discretionary right of states to act under the existing mechanism of international law of sanctions and countermeasures and the new obligation to act as suggested by Common Concern. This new obligation to act might be applicable only in the case of a fully fledged doctrine of Common Concern, determined within the process of claims and responses that is subject to the principles of proportionality and accountability. For monetary affairs, the key international rules are laid down in the Articles of Agreement and they apply to the Fund’s members. The chapter also examines the legal nature of the rights and obligations contained in such Articles of Agreements with special focus on the obligations detailed in Article rv and the sanctions contemplated in Article xxv1.

The conclusion of this book provides a summary on the key findings of the process of claims and responses as proposed by the doctrine of Common

Concern of Humankind and applied to the case study of international monetary stability. It also provides some alternative proposals on how to enhance the pursuit and maintenance of monetary stability at the different levels of governance with Common Concern lenses and under the parameters of international monetary law. As reminded by Proctor:

Yet in the monetary field, as in any other, sovereignty is not unlimited. International law sets certain minimum requirements as to acceptable conduct in this sphere and these must be explored. Furthermore, concepts of sovereignty do not merely involve a collection of rights which a State may enjoy; they also connote a set of corresponding obligations which are owed to other States. If a State has the right to establish and to regulate a monetary system, then it must respect the right of other States to do likewise. Such rules of customary international law as may exist can, of course, be varied by treaty, and States can agree to submit to additional obligations by that means.!+

14 Charles Proctor, Mann on the Legal Aspect of Money (7th edn, OUP 2012) 523.